TREES AND SHRUBS. 



BEEBEEIS DIAPHANA, Maxim. 



Berbbris diaphana, Maximowicz, Bull Acad. Sci. St. Petersbourg, xxiii. 309 (Flor. Taniiut 



32, t. 8, figs. 1-7) (1877); Mil. Biol. ix. 711. — Schneider, III. Hand!, Laubhohk. i. im, 



fig. 198 a-g ; Bull. Herb. Boiss. se'r. 2, v. 398. 

 Berbbris Yunnanensis, Schneider, III. Handb. Laubhohk. i. 306, fig. 198 h-n (in part) (not 



Franchet) (1905). 



Leaves deciduous, chartaceous, glabrous, short-petioled, obovate to oblong-obovate, rarely oval, 

 obtuse and mucronate, gradually narrowed at the base into a short petiole, entire, or serrate, with 

 remote spiny teeth pointed forward, dark bluish green above, glaucous, reticulate and papillose 

 beneath, from 2 to 4 centimetres long and from 1 to 1.6 centimetres wide. Flowers bright yellow, 

 1 centimetre in diameter, solitary or oftener in twos or threes, rarely in four-flowered umbel-like 

 racemes; peduncle up to 2 centimetres in length, sometimes very short; pedicels from !.."> to 2 J5 

 centimetres long, with a minute bract at the base, thickened at the apex ; sepals six, elliptic, of 

 almost equal length, from 7 to 8 millimetres long, obtuse; petals about 6 millimetres in length, 

 oval, emarginate at the apex, with two oval obtuse nectaries ; stamens slightly shorter than the 

 sepals, the filaments about three times longer than the anthers ; ovaries many-ovuled. Fruit oval, 

 usually slightly attenuated and oblique at the apex, about 1 centimetre long, bright scarlet, 

 somewhat pruinose, the stigma almost sessile ; seeds from six to eight, narrow-oblong-obovate, 

 about 6 millimetres in length, light brown, minutely punctulate. 



A broad low shrub, in cultivation from 5 to 7.5 decimetres high, with rather stout furrowed 

 erect branches, light yellowish brown in their first years later becoming grayish brown ; spines 

 about the color of the branches, usually three-parted in the cultivated plant, slender, from 0.f> to 

 1.5 centimetres long, in the type specimen stout and from 1 to 4 centimetres long. Flowers 

 appear in May with the leaves. Fruit ripens in September. Later in the autumn the leaves 

 change to a brilliant scarlet color. 



China: Kansu, N. M. PrzewalsM, September 6, 1872 (Herb. St. Petersburg). 



Berberis diaphana is most closely related to the Himalayan Berberis macrosepala, Hooker f. & Thomson, and to 

 Berberis Yunnanensis, Franchet. The former is distinguished by its dark brown puberulous branchlets and curved 

 usually solitary peduncles, and the latter by its entire thinner and smaller leaves scarcely reticulate beneath, and by the 

 fascicled flowers. Schneider refers the cultivated plant figured here to Berberis Yunnanensis, of which I have not seen 

 the type. I cannot, however, agree with this identification and refer it to Berberis diaphana. One of the type speci- 

 mens in fruit of this species before me differs only in its more vigorous branches and stouter spines and the somewhat 

 more attenuated fruits, while in the characteristic inflorescence, fruits, and foliage it agrees exactly with our cultivated 

 plant. 



This handsome Barberry was raised at the Arnold Arboretum from seeds received from Monsieur M. L. de Vilmorin 

 in 1894, and the young plants began to flower for the first time in 1901. It has proved perfectly hardy in eastern 

 Massachusetts, where it is certainly one of the most ornamental species of the genus, with its bright yellow flowers, 

 conspicuous scarlet fruits, and the beautiful autumnal tints of the foliage. 



