BAEBEKRT FAMILY. 



37 



1. BER'BERIS, L. Barberry. 



[Name from the Arabic] 



Sepals 6, ronndisli, bracteo 

 late. Petals 6, obovate, with 2 

 gland-like spots near the base 

 inside. Stamens 6, irritable. 

 Stigma orbicular, depressed. 

 Fruit a 1 - few-seeded berry. 

 Seeds erect. Shrubs with acid 

 leaves and berries, and yellow 

 flowers in pendent racemes ; 

 wood and inner bark yellow. 

 1. B. vulgaris; L. Leaves 

 scattered on the young shoots, 

 mostly small with sharp-lobed 

 margins, or reduced to sharp 

 triple spines, from the axils of 

 which, the next season, are 

 produced fascicles of obovate- 

 oblong closely bristle-toothed 

 leaves, and drooping many- 

 flowered racemes ; petals en- 

 tire ; berries oblong, scarlet. 

 CoMMOx Barberry. Bar- 

 berry. 



Slirub 3-10 feet high, producing 

 numerous suckers. Leaves about au 

 inch and a half long and half an inch 

 wide. Racemes 2 inches or more in 

 length. Serines about half an inch 

 long. New England and New York. 

 Fl. May. Fr. Oct. 



Obs. This shrub is a native of Europe, and thoroughly nattiralized 

 throughout Xew England, and partially so in the State of New York. 

 A native species (B. Canadensis, Pursh.) is found in the Alleghanies, 

 and also in the Himalayas of India. In Xew England the Barberry 

 abounds along the road sides and in waste places, often forming dense 

 thickets or natural hedges ; it sometimes, though rarely, assumes a tree- 

 like form. It is a beautiful shrub, whether bearing its graceful yellow 

 racemes of flowers in spring, or loaded with its coral-like berries in 

 autumn. To those who observe plants closely, it presents several inter- 

 esting peculiarities ; its stamens when touched with a pin, or other hard 

 point, manifest their irritability by springing suddenly towards the 

 pistil, where they remain for some time ; the anthers have a curious con- 



FiG. 14. Barberry (Berberis vulgaris). 15. An enlarged petal, showing the glandular 

 spots at the base. 16. A magnified anther, opening by valves hinged at the top. 



