By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 



93 



5. North-east District, Hedges near Purton. 



Notwithstanding the above authorities, I fear the barberry is not 

 truly indigenous in the county. My own observations would lead 

 me to consider it a naturalized species, and from its frequently be- 

 ing planted in gardens it is difficult to arrive at any satisfactory 

 conclusion. In Somerset, and throughout the West of England 

 competent observers consider it introduced. 



The barberry ranges over the greater part of Europe and tem- 

 perate Asia, to the Himalaya: but owing to its cultivation the real 

 limits of its area cannot be satisfactorily ascertained. The rate of 

 growth when the shrub is young is rapid, and in consequence in 

 five or six years it will attain the height of seven or eight feet, and 

 will thrive for two or three centuries without increasing much in 

 size. The leaves are agreeably acid, and according to Gerarde were 

 much used in his time as a salad. 



The berries are so acid that birds seldom touch them. With 

 sugar they form an agreeable refreshing preserve, their acid being 

 the malic. They are also made into jelly, which is not only deli- 

 cious to the taste, but extremely wholesome. In gardens it is cul- 

 tivated as a fruit tree, or fruit shrub, and the variety, or rather 

 variation, in which the seeds are said to be wanting, and that in 

 which the fruit is sweet, are recommended in preference. The stem 

 and bark of the barberry are excessively astringent, and are em- 

 ployed for that reason in the arts. The late Prof. Koyle informed 

 me that the lukion indikon of Dioscorides was a barberry. To this 

 day an extract of the root, stem, and branches of Indian barberries 

 is employed in cases of Ophthalmia with much advantage. The 

 shrub makes an excellent hedge, but there exists a prejudice against 

 it among agriculturists, from its supposed influence in producing 

 blight or mildew on the corn adjoining. This prejudice is of 

 unknown antiquity, but it is now generally considered to be errone- 

 ous. A small parasitical fungus " JEcidium berberides/ } (Pers.) is 

 frequently observed on the leaves, and some have supposed that it 



there were not schools for young ladies as now, but they were educated at reli- 

 gious houses." The Rev. Canon Jackson informs me, that the berberry still 

 contiuues to grow in the hedges alluded to by Aubrey. T. B. F. 



