BARBERRY FAMILY 



i. Berberis. — Spinous shrubs with yellow wood and astringent 

 bark ; sepals 6, deciduous j petals 6, each with 2 nectaries at the 

 base ; stamens 6 ; fruit berrylike, 1 — 3-seeded. 



*2. Epimedium. — Sepals 4, deciduous ; petals 8, in two whorls, 

 inner slipper-shaped ; stamens 4, fruit a many-seeded follicle. 



1. Berberis (Barberry). — Leaves spinously- dentate, or reduced 

 to 3 — 7-fid spines ; flowers in racemes, yellow, with 2 or 3 minute 

 bracteoles. (Name said to be of Arabic origin.) 



1 . B. vulgaris (Barberry). The only British species. A pretty 

 shrub, not uncommon in woods and hedges, with yellow wood 

 and 3-forked spines. Its yellow flotvers hang in drooping clusters ; 

 the filaments are elastic and irri- 

 table, so that when touched ever 

 so lightly by the leg of an insect 

 they spring upward and throw their 

 pollen outward. The oblong berry- 

 like fruits are orange-red when ripe 

 and gratefully acid, and may be made 

 into an agreeable preserve. The 

 shrub is often rooted out by farmers, 

 as a fungus which lives part of its 

 life on Barberry leaves is the cause 

 of " rust " in wheat. Several species 

 furnish a yellow dye, and others 

 are cultivated in gardens, as are 

 also several members of the allied 

 genus Mahbnia. — Fl. May, June. 

 Perennial. 



epimedium alhnum {Barrenwort). 



*2. Epimedium (Barrenwort). — 

 Leaves bi-ternate ; flowers red, with 

 yellow, honey-bearing, inner petals. 

 (Name of Greek origin, indicating its resemblance to a Median 

 plant.) 



1.* E. alpinutn (Alpine Barrenwort). — A graceful plant, less 

 than a foot high, occurring here and there in subalpine woods in 

 Scotland and the north of England ; but not indigenous. Its 

 delicate green leaflets are ovate-cordate, acuminate and serrate. — 

 Fl. May. Perennial. 



Ord. III. — Nymph^eacejE. — Water-lily Family 



Perennial aquatic herbaceous plants, with generally orbicular 

 floating leaves which are involute in venation, and large, often 



