34 



LEONTICE CHRYSOGONUM. 



This is a frame perennial, and should be potted in loam and sand, using plenty 

 of drainers. It may be placed out of doors amongst the Alpine plants during 

 the summer, and. have the protection of the cold frame during the winter. It 

 ought to have but little water during the dormant state ; or perhaps it would be 

 better if the tubers were taken up and kept dry for two or three months. It 

 appears to be a difficult plant to cultivate. 



The order Berberacece comprises six genera, of which the genus Berberis is by 

 far the most important, and contains the greatest number of species. B. vulgaris 

 affords a most grateful acid fruit, from its containing a small portion of oxalic 

 acid, for which property it is often preserved. The fruit of B. aristata and 

 B. Nepalensis is so esteemed by the mountaineers of India, that they dry it and 

 send it into the plains for sale. 



The B. tinctoria affords a valuable yellow dye, which is used for the purpose of 

 dyeing either leather or cotton. The bark also possesses bitter and astringent 

 properties, in consequence of which it has been received into the list of medicinal 

 plants. The stamens of this genus are also worthy of attention from their 

 excitability. If touched on the inside with a needle, or any other hard substance, 

 they will bend to the stigma, but recover themselves if left at rest for some time, 

 when they may be excited again in the same manner. The best time to perform 

 this experiment is on a fine sunny day. This peculiar property is destroyed either 

 by corrosive or narcotic poisons ; the one makes them hard and brittle, the other 

 soft and flaccid, thereby producing an effect on vegetable life analogous to that 

 on the animal kingdom. x 



The generic name Leontice is from the Greek Kzovtikt], wild chervil ; its specific 

 name Chrysogonum applies to the golden colour of its flowers. 



Fig. 1, a flower with the sepals and petals removed to show the filaments and 

 anthers ; 2, shows the orbicular stigma ; 3, germ, with the seeds ; 4, section of a 

 seed-vessel. 



