EVERGREEN BERBERRIES CULTIVATED IN GREAT BRITAIN. 17 



most abundantly, and therefore may be ranked as the first among 

 bushes suitable for rock-work. 



This character applies however, strictly, only to the true 

 Holly-leaved Berberry, the leaves of which are a bright clear 

 green, very shining, even on the under side, and a rich vinous red 

 along the leafstalks. In the nurseries are numerous varieties of 

 inferior merit, with broader leaves, not shining on either side, of 

 a duller green, and apparently hybrid varieties between this and 

 the Creeping Berberry (B. repens). They too are fine ever- 

 greens, but not so handsome as the genuine original kind. It 

 is desirable that they should be separated by the nurserymen 

 who deal in them. 



The original plant, still growing in peat in the garden of the 

 Horticultural Society, is now 9 feet 3 inches high, having been 

 planted about the year 1828. Peat is not, however, so well 

 suited to the plant as loamy or clayey land, in which it fruits 

 in very great abundance. 



27. The CREEPING Berberry. 



Berberis repens, Lindley, in Botanical Register, t. 1176. 



A native of North- West America, according to United States 

 nurserymen, by whom it was first sent to Europe. I suspect, 

 however, that it is confined to the Rocky Mountains, for it is not 

 among Douglas's plants, and it has lately been met with on the 

 mountains of New Mexico by Mr. Fencller, by whom it has been 

 distributed under the name of B. Aquifolium. 



It is the opinion of many botanists both in Europe and the 

 United States that this is a mere variety of the Holly-leaved Ber- 

 berry. I cannot agree with them, unless they use the word 

 species in the same sense as those who identify the dog with the 

 wolf and jackal. The Creeping Berberry owes its name to its 

 great tendency to form what are called creeping roots, for 

 which it is much more remarkable than the Holly-leaved. It is 

 a dwarf bush of no great beauty, scarcely exceeding a foot in 

 height ; its leaflets are not shining, are not sharp-pointed, are 

 little prickly, but are roundish, of a dull glaucous green, and 

 few in number. Moreover, it has few of the good qualities 

 which distinguish the other. It is, however, to be observed that 

 it breeds freely with the Holly-leaved, and from this mixed 

 parentage has probably arisen the spurious form of the Holly- 

 leaved to which I have alluded in mentioning that species. 



It can scarcely be said to be worth cultivating except in 

 botanical gardens. 



vol. v. 



c 



