14 EVERGREEN BERBERRIES CULTIVATED IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



20. The OPHTHALMIC Berberry. 



Berberis Lycium, Boyle's Illustrations of the Botany of the 

 Himalayan Mountains, p. 64. 

 According to Dr. Royle, this occurs in the Himalayahs from 

 Rajpore to Mussooree, at from 3000 to 7000 feet of elevation ; 

 also from Nahn to Choor. 



This bush derives its name from having been discovered by 

 Dr. Eoyle to be the real Lycium indicum of the Greek physi- 

 cians. To this day its extract is used against ophthalmia with 

 great success, as in the time of Dioscorides. Its branches are 

 erect, pale brown, and angular, armed with 3-parted spines of 

 unusual length for the size of the leaves. The latter, when 

 young, are glaucous on the under side ; but in winter they are 

 nearly green, and become a dull, unpleasant, brownish red. In 

 form they are oblong-lanceolate, spiny-pointed, with several 

 lateral spiny teeth ; sometimes, however, they are toothless. 

 The flowers grow in long, erect, somewhat panicled racemes, 

 much longer than the leaves. 



This is a bad evergreen, but a pretty summer bush. It is 

 perfectly hardy. 



III. — Leaves pinnated, or trifoliolate. Ash-leaved Berberries, 

 or Mahonias. 



21. The THREE-LEAVED Berberry. 



Berberis trifoliata, Bot. Register, 1841, Misc. 149, 1845, 

 t. 10. 



In the north of Mexico, among stunted Mimosas and Cacti, this 

 plant is found occupying large tracts of country. Introduced 

 by the Horticultural Society. 



It is a charming evergreen bush, with prickly, deeply scal- 

 loped leaves, having bluish-green variegated leaflets in threes 

 sessile at the end of a stalk either longer or shorter than them- 

 selves. On the under side they are quite glaucous. The wood 

 is hard, reddish brown, and somewhat streaky. The flowers are 

 pale, clear yellow, growing from three to five together, in small, 

 nearly sessile racemes, in the axils of the leaves. The fruit has 

 not been yet formed in this country : it is said to be eaten by the 

 children that inhabit its native wildernesses. 



None of the genus are more worth cultivating than this in a 

 country that suits it. It grows 3 or 4 feet high, and has 

 hitherto proved hardy near London. 



