BARBERRY FAMILY. Berberidaceae. 
BARBERRY FAMILY. Berberidaceae. 
Not a large family, widely distributed; shrubs or herbs; 
leaves alternate or from the root; flowers perfect; sepals 
and petals few, many, or none, generally in several over- 
lapping rows; stamens on the receptacle, usually as many 
as the petals and opposite them; pistil one, with a short 
style, or none; fruit a berry or capsule. 
There are several kinds of Vancouveria, perennial herbs 
with slender, creeping rootstocks; named after Vancouver 
the explorer. 
A charming woodland plant, its airy 
Inside-out Flower, Aower cluster, which has much the effect 
Barrenwort _ ; 2 
Vaniamebrcs of an Alum-root, in beautiful contrast to 
parviflora the crisp, evergreen foliage. The large 
bare lilac leaves are all from the root, with wiry, 
pring : : ae 
Wash., Oreg., Cal. purplish leaf-stalks and beautifully-shaped 
leaflets, each an inch or more broad, pale 
on the under side, the older leaves dark, rich green, leathery 
and very glossy and the younger ones bright apple-green 
and thinner in texture. They form a handsome cluster, 
varying a good deal in size, and the general effect suggests 
some very crisp and sturdy sort of Maidenhair Fern. 
The stem is from one to two feet tall, wiry, purplish, and 
hairy, and bears a very loose cluster of tiny, drooping, 
white or lilac-tinged flowers. The six, white sepals 
resemble petals; the six, white petals are smaller than the 
sepals, lined with yellow, and there are six to nine bracts, 
resembling sepals, and six stamens. The minute buds are 
purplish and the little flowers are exceedingly pretty and 
odd, when we examine them closely, for the sepals turn 
back so abruptly from the tiny petals, and from the pro- 
jecting cluster of stamens, that the name Inside-out Flower 
is appropriate. The fruit is a kind of capsule with many 
seeds. This grows in shady woods, especially among 
redwoods, up to seven thousand feet. V. hexdndra has 
thinner leaflets, not evergreen, and the leaflets of V. chrys- 
déntha have white margins. 
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