BERBERIS — BARBERRY. 



i i 



short ; stigma circular, depressed. Fruit a 1- to 9-seeded berry ; seeds 

 erect, with a crustaceous integument. 



Shrubs with yellow inner bark and wood, bristly serrate, often spiny 

 1- to 9-foliate leaves. Yellow flowers in drooping racemes, and acid fruit. 



Berberis vulgaris Linne. — Com mon Barberry. 



Description.' — Flower and fruit as in the generic description above. 

 Leaves on the young shoots mostly reduced to sharp triple or branched 

 spines ; on older branches they are produced in clusters or rosettes, and 

 are ovate-oblong, with sharp bristly teeth. The flowers, in long drooping 

 racemes, are produced from the axils 

 of these leaves. The berries are ob- 

 long, 2 -seeded, scarlet, and possess a 

 gratefully acid and somewhat astrin- 

 gent taste. 



A shrub, 4 to 8 feet in height, 

 diffusely branched at the top, with a 

 whitish or light gray, shining bark 

 on the young shoots, and a much 

 darker gray on the old stems. Flow- 

 ers in May and June and matures its 

 fruit in autumn. 



Habitat. — Common barberry is a 

 native of Europe, but has become 

 naturalized and grows wild in some 

 sections of New England. It is com- 

 mon in cultivation all over the country 

 as an ornamental shrub. 



Berberis Canadensis Pursh. — 

 American Barberry. 



Description. — Flowers and fruit as 

 in the generic description above. 

 Petals notched at the apex. Leaves 

 repandly toothed, and less bristly 

 pointed than in preceding species. 

 Kacemes fewer flowered. Berries oval. 



A shrub from 1 to 3 feet in height. Formerly considered by many 

 botanists a mere variety of B. vulgaris. Flowers in May and June. 



Habitat.— Mountainous regions from Virginia to Georgia. 



Berberis A q u if o I i u m Pursh. — Holly-leaved Barberry. 



Description. — Calyx: sepals suborbicular, membranaceous. Corolla: 

 petals connivent, the innermost bifid at the apex. Berries dark purple. 



A shrub from 2 to 5 feet in height, with evergreen, pinnate leaves ; 

 leaflets in 3 to 6 pairs, with an odd terminal one, corinceous, ovate-lanceo- 

 late or elliptical-oblong, inequilateral or slightly cordate at the base, repand 



Fig. 101. — Berberis vulgaris. 



