CHAP. VI TI. 



BERBERACEJE. BERBERIS. 



299 



and the laurel tribe." {Penmj^ Cyc, vol. iv. p. 259.) The genera containing 

 the hardy species are two, Berberis and Mahonia. They are shrubs, or low 

 I trees, inhabitants of Europe, Asia, and of North and South America; but 

 . they are not met with in the interior of Africa, or the South Sea Islands. 

 They are usually found in the temperate zones; but some of them inhabit 

 high mountains within the tropics. The seeds are very tenacious of life, 

 and, being small, and easily conveyed from one country to another, a number 

 of new species have recently been introduced from Nepal and South America. 

 The wood of some of the species is used for dyeing yellow ; and the more 

 common have been admitted into the materia medica, from the days of Galen 

 to the present time, on account of their bitter and astringent properties. All 

 the species are ornamentaj, and those of them which are evergreen eminently 

 so. They are all readily propagated by seeds, which most of them ripen in 

 England, and also by side suckers and root suckers, which almost all the 

 species produce in abundance. The fruit is generally edible, and abounds 

 in the malic acid. The genera and species' of this order have recently been 

 arranged and described, in a mastei'ly manner, by Dr. Lindley, in the Penny 

 Cyclojycedia ; from which article, from Don's Miller, and from our own 

 observations, we have drawn up this chapter. The distinctive characters of 

 the two genera of Berberis and Mahonia are as under : — 



^e'rberis. Sepals 6, furnished on the outside with 3 scales. Petals 6, with 

 2 glands on the inside of each at the base. Stamens toothless. Berries 

 2 — 3-seeded. (Don's Mill.,i. p. 114.) Flowers in simple, mostly pendu- 

 lous, racemes; in some species solitary. Leaves undivided. 



Mahon/^. Sepals 6, furnished on the outside with 3 scales. Petals 6, with- 

 out glands on the inside. Stamens furnished with a tooth on each side, at 

 the top of the filament. Beri'ies 3 — 9-seeded. (Ibid.) Flowers in erect 

 racemes, that are disposed several together in a panicle. Leaves pinnate. 



Genus I. 



BE'RBERIS Lin. The Berberry. Lin. Syst. Hexandria Monogynia. 



Identification. Lin. Gen., 44-2. ; Dec. Prod., 1. p 105. ; Don's Mill.,1. p. IH. 

 Syno7iymes. Pipperidge Eush ; E'pine vinette, Fr. ; Berberitze, Ger. 



Dei-ivations. Berberys is the Arabic word used for this plant by Averrhoes and other writers on 

 medicine; but some persons derive the name from the Greek word berberi, signifying a shell, from 

 the leaves of the common species having a hollow surface. Bochart says that the word Berberis is 

 derived from the PhQ;nician word 6flj-ar, which signifies shining like a shell, from their shining 

 leaves. Gerard says that the word Berbery is a corruption of amyrberis, the name given to 

 the plant by Avicenna Du Hamel says that Bdrberis is derived from an Indian word signifying 

 mother of pearl. Pipperidge bush, or piprage tree, Gerard says, is Dr. Turner's name for the 

 plant, and it is still given to it in Cambridgeshire. E'pine vinette signifies the acid, or sorrel, thorn 

 from the taste of the fruit and leaves. ' 



Gen. Char. Sejmls 6, guarded on the outside by 3 scales. Petals 6, with 2 

 glands on the inside of each. Stamens toothless. Berries 2 — 3-seeded, 

 Seeds 2, rarely 3, laterally inserted at the base of the berries, erect, oblono- 

 with a crustaceous coat and fleshy albumen. Cotyledons leafy, ellipticat.' 

 Radide long, capitellate at the tip. (Don's Mill.,], p. 114.) B. hetero- 

 phylla Juss. has toothed stamens. 



Description. The species are all shrubs of from 2 ft. or 3 ft. to 18 ft. or 

 20 ft. in height, in a wild state ; some of them attaining the height of 30 ft. in 

 gardens. They all throw up numerous side suckers, and the stronger-gi-owino' 

 species, if these were carefully removed, might be formed into very handsome 

 small trees. In all the species the flowers are yellow. The fruit is generally 

 red ; but in some species it is black or dark purple, and in some varieties 

 of the species it is white or yellow : it is always acid, and more or less 



