10 EVERGREEN BERBERRIES CULTIVATED IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



rather spiny teeth. The flowers are about the size of those of B. 

 vulgaris, and appear sparingly in long-stalked corymbs. 



It is a remarkably fine species, likely to rival the Kushmul in 

 stature. It is truly evergreen, but is sometimes slightly injured 

 in the foliage by a severe winter. 



16. The KUSHMUL Berberry. 



Berberis asiatica. Roxburgh, Fl. Indica, ii. 182. Deles- 

 serfs Icones, ii. 1 — alias B. ilicifolia. Asiatic He- 

 searches, vi. 357, according to Roxburgh. 



Found in all the mountainous country north of Hindostan, where 

 it appears to be called Kushmul. It is correctly distinguished 

 from the Chitra, or B. aristata, by Dr. Royle. 



This is the largest of the species in cultivation, growing quickly 

 to the height of 8 or 10 feet, with pale erect branches, rather 

 small spines, and a beautiful lucid bright green glaucous foliage. 

 The leaves are oblong, tapering to the base, and a good deal 

 netted when old ; as in all the Indian species, they are toothed in 

 various degrees, according to age or other circumstances ; when 

 toothed they invariably are scolloped as it were, and not serrated 

 as in the^ Chitra. The flowers grow in very short, roundish, 

 sessile racemes, scarcely projecting beyond the leaves ; and are 

 succeeded by clusters of dark purple, roundish berries, covered with 

 a rich bloom like a plum. In India these are dried and sold as 

 raisins, which they much resemble, except in size. It is the best 

 known of all the Indian Berberries, having been longest in culti- 

 vation, and in the south-west of England has become extremely 

 common. Thousands of plants have been distributed by the 

 Horticultural Society. Nowhere, however, has it been cultivated 

 with so much success, or on so large a scale, as at Killerton, the 

 seat of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, Bart., from whose gardener, 

 Mr. Craggs, I have received the following account : — 



" About eighteen years ago I received a packet of seed of 

 Berberis asiatica, from which I raised about one hundred plants. 

 After keeping them two or three years in the nursery, I planted 

 them out singly in different situations both at Killerton and 

 Holmcote. The plants grew vigorously, were allowed to take 

 their natural growth, and in a few years, at the latter place, began 

 to seed. Being near the sea, the late spring frosts did not kill 

 the blossoms ; and from those plants we have now for several 

 years obtained many pounds of seed, the plant being upwards 

 of 14 feet high, and as many in diameter. 



" From the commencement of their ripening with us the seeds 

 have been sown annually in drills or broadcast in beds in the 

 open ground about the first week in March, in a light soil, letting 



