292 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



from prostrate plants scarcely 2 feet high to shrubs 20 

 feet in height. They are mostly spiny or have prickly 

 leaves, the latter in the section Mahonia being pinnate 



Fig. 354 — Berberis congestiflora. (].) 



and evergreen. Most of the following species will thrive 

 in any fairly rich open soil, but some of the weaker ones 

 are benefited by the addition of peat. Propagation is 

 effected by seeds and layers. 



B. Aquifoliuiii. — This grows to a height of 6 or 8 feet, 

 and bears a profusion of yellow flowers in April and May. 

 North -Western America, 1823. B. repent is a dwarf form 

 of this. The glossy foliage changes to a reddish-purple 

 colour in winter. Invaluable for planting under the shade 

 of trees. Both are evergreen. 



B.aristata (fig. 353). -In foliage this strongly resembles 

 the common Berberry. It is erect in habit, with furrowed, 

 reddish-brown branches; the flowers, in pendulous cymes, 

 appearing in May. The purplish glaucous berries are 

 rather large in this species. Northern India. 1820. 



B. buxifolia {B. rfitlcix).— An erect slender species, nearly 

 evergreen, 5 or 6 feet high. The flowers are large for 

 the genus, and solitary, on long slender stalks, produced 

 all through the spring. Berries bluish-black. Magellan, 

 1828. 



B. cowjcstijlora (fig. 354). — A bush, 6 to 8 feet high, 

 leaves 1 to 2 inches long, almost imbricated, roundish 

 oblong; flowers in compact, globose heads, golden-yellow. 

 A very beautiful but rare Berberry, introduced from Chili 

 in 1861. 



B. Dane i nii. — This is certainly one of the most orna- 

 mental shrubs in cultivation, but it is sometimes cut by 

 frost. It forms a densely branching sub-erect evergreen 

 bush, with small, blunt, glossy, dark-green, prickly leaves, 

 and orange-yellow flowers appearing in early spring, and 

 sometimes again in autumn. Patagonia, 1847. 



B. empetrifolia. — An evergreen from 1 to 2 feet high; 

 leaves linear, revolute, and sharp-pointed; flowers in ter- 

 minal umbels, produced from December to March. Chili, 

 1830. 



B. fascicularis. — A very elegant evergreen, allied to 

 B. Aqnifolium. It is remarkable for its glaucous-green 

 colour; rather tender in the climate of. London. It makes 

 a fine wall plant. Mexico, 1819. 



B. Fortunei {Mahonia). — This species has few distant 

 lanceolate leaflets, and terminal spikes of yellow flowers. 

 China, 1846. 



B. glumacea (B. nervosa). — An evergreen dwarf slow- 

 growing species; leaflets narrow; flowers yellow, in ter- 

 minal elongated racemes 6 to 8 inches long, produced in 

 spring. North- West America, 1822. 



B. ilicifolia. — This is a very handsome species, with 

 smallish holly -like leaves, and orange - yellow flowers 

 tinged with red. Introduced from the extreme south of 

 America about 1843. 



B. japonica. — An evergreen with large leaves of a 

 yellowish -green tint, composed of broad spiny leaflets of 

 irregular outline, and terminal clusters of yellow flowers, 

 produced in winter or early spring. B. Bealii is a seed- 

 ling form of it. They are so distinct from everything 

 else that one or the other of the varieties deserves a 

 sheltered and somewhat shaded place on a well-drained 

 or peaty soil, or a little wall space in every garden. Japan, 

 1845. 



B. nepalensis. — A remarkably handsome but tender 

 plant of erect habit, 8 to 10 feet high, with pinnate 

 leaves composed of numerous thickly-set lanceolate spiny 

 leaflets, of a glaucous-green colour, and a cluster of erect 

 terminal spikes of yellow flowers. Probably a form of B. 

 japonica, but is of a paler green, and has quite differently- 

 formed narrow leaflets, whence it has been called the Ash- 

 leaved Berberry. Nepal, 1850. 



B. stenophylla. — A hybrid raised from B. Darwinii and 

 B. empetrifolia and the most ornamental of the evergreen 

 Berberries. It is of elegant habit, its slender interlacing 



C> Si 



Fig. 355.— Betula ; 



Youngii. 



branches forming a dense thicket. The leaves are narrow 

 and pointed, and the flowers a rich yellow. If seeds be 

 sown, a portion of the seedlings will revert to B. Darwinii y 



