EVERGREEN BERBERRIES CULTIVATED IN GREAT BRITAIN. 15 



22. The THIN-LEAVED Berberry. 



Berberis tenuifolia, Lindley,inBot. Reg., 1838, misc. No. 

 121. 1844, t. 26 — alias B. fraxinifolia, Hooker's Icones, 

 iv. tt. 329, 330. 



A Mexican shrub, from the foot of Orizaba. Introduced by the 

 Horticultural Society. 



No probability exists of this graceful plant being hardy, it 

 being destroyed by only a few degrees of frost. It is easily dis- 

 tinguished by the leaflets of its long, pinnated leaves being ovate- 

 lanceolate, pale bright green, and perfectly free from all trace 

 of toothing. Its flowers appear in abundance in long, simple, 

 erect, loose, open racemes, opening, in the month of December, 

 in a greenhouse. It is said to grow ten feet high in its native 

 places, and is a good conservatory plant. 



23. EHRENBERG'S Berberry. 



Berberis Ehrenbergii, Kurtz e, in Linncea. xx. 45. 

 From the temperate parts of Mexico. 



According to Professor Kunze, this has flowered in the 

 Botanic Garden of Halle. In England it is unknown. The 

 author states it to be nearly allied to the Thin-leaved Berberry 

 (B. tenuifolia), but to have longer and narrower leaflets ; the 

 flowers are longer than their stalks, and therefore nearly sessile ; 

 the sepals white ; the petals small and yellow. 



I have no private information about it ; and the language of 

 the describer leaves some doubts concerning its true character. 

 For example, it is difficult to reconcile the nearly sessile flowers 

 ascribed to it with compound lax racemes. 



24. The PALLID Berberry. 



Berberis pallida, Be?itham, Plantce Hartwegiana?, p. 34. 

 Bot. Reg., 1844, t. 16. 



An evergreen shrub, from five to six feet high, from the moun- 

 tains of Mexico. Introduced by the Horticultural Society. 



A handsome species, with pinnated, slightly prickly leaves, 

 and long, panicled racemes of pale yellow flowers, succeeded by 

 globular, dark purple, glaucous fruit, the taste of which is not 

 only unpleasant, but particularly acrid. 



It is a very rare and very fine greenhouse shrub, but too 

 tender for the neighbourhood of London, and therefore not 

 deserving of more particular description. 



