EVERGREEN BERBERRIES CULTIVATED IN GREAT BRITAIN. 3 



parted spines, which are longer than the leaves, some of which 

 are toothed, and obovate instead of ovate. The flowers grow 

 singly or in clusters, are very deep yellow, and rather larger 

 than usual in the genus. It is almost universally known in 

 gardens by the erroneous name of B. dulcis ; but I have it from 

 Messrs. Yeitch under its correct designation, they having raised 

 it direct from seeds collected by Mr. T. Lobb. In its early 

 state the leaves are much rounder than in the more advanced 

 stage. 



Dr. Joseph Hooker, in his Flora Antarctica, gives the fol- 

 lowing interesting account of the wild plant : — 



" This is a variable species, especially in the foliage, exhibit- 

 ing a different aspect at different seasons of the year. In spring, 

 when the flowering commences, fascicles of new leaves are pro- 

 duced, which are pale green, membranous, and entire. At this 

 period the leaves of the former season begin falling, while those 

 of the present year gradually become larger, stiffer, coriaceous, 

 and generally mucronate or pungent at the apex. They are not 

 fully developed till autumn, when they are generally quite 

 entire, attenuated at the base, and shortly petiolate, about half 

 an inch long, rigid and coriaceous, reticulated on the upper sur- 

 face : during the following spring these in their turn fall away. 

 In seedling plants the leaves are larger than at any future time, 

 on long petioles, broader, and here and there furnished with 

 spinous teeth. The flowers are generally in threes, but some- 

 times solitary, pale yellow. The berries, about the size of a 

 small pea, were much used for tarts by the officers of the 

 ' Beagle/ and found excellent. The JB. dulcis of Sweet agrees 

 with the common form of this plant, except that the flowers are 

 larger in that author's figure, and the pubescence of the pedicels 

 not visible in the wild specimens. The Ft. inermis seems a 

 variety, some of the specimens being quite unarmed : indeed, the 

 spines of this genus afford but an inconstant character." 



For the purposes of cultivators it may be desirable to distin- 

 guish the true B. buxifolia from the Straits of Magellan, from 

 the JB. dulcis from Valdivia. The latter has larger and more 

 spathulate leaves, larger fruit, and is more deciduous. The former 

 is also a dwarfer plant. They are not, however, specifically distinct. 



4. The YELLOW Berberry. 



Berberis lutea, Flora Peruviana, iii. p. 51, t. 280. 



A native of the mountains near Veto in Peru, at the height of 

 12,000 feet above the sea, where it was found by Mr. T. 

 Lobb, and sent to Messrs. Veitch, of Exeter. Ruiz and Pavon 

 say that it grows in coldish places (locis frigidiusculis). 



b 2 



