﻿ton; Granchester; Triplow • Hinton; and Hildersham : Rev. R. Relhan. — 

 Devon; Near C'hudleigh ; llsington ; and Plymouth: FI. Devon. — Essex; 

 About Walden: Dr. Withering. Frequent in Norfolk and Suffolk, and most 

 other counties. — Somersetsh. Near Tadwick ; the top of the hill at Lyncotnbe ; 

 and B i ad ford : FI. Bath. — IVaruicksh. Overslev ; Grafton; andBilsIey: Mr. 

 Purton. LeekWootton; and Warwick: Mr. W. G. Perry. In hedges near 

 Bilton Hall, and on the Banks of the Avon near Holbrook Grange, near Rugby : 

 1831, W. B.— In IRELAND and SCOTLAND. 



Shrub. — Flowers in May and June. 



A bushy Shrub from 3 to 6 or 8 feet high, in a cultivated state, 

 often much taller. Branches alternate, flexible, angular, with a 

 pale brown bark. Leaves in tufts, from lateral buds, deciduous, 

 stalked, somewhat inversely egg-shaped, more or less pointed, 

 between serrated and fringed. Thorns at the base of each leaf- 

 bud, 3-cleft, spreading, sharp ; channelled underneath. Clusters 

 solitary, from the centre of each bud, stalked, simple, many- 

 flowered, drooping, longer than the leaves. Flowers of a bright 

 yellow colour, with red glands. Berries red, oblong, a little curved, 

 very acid. The irritability of the stamens of this plant is very re- 

 markable, if the inside of the filaments be touched near the base, 

 by any extraneous body, as the point of a needle, &c. they imme- 

 diately spring up, and strike the anthers against the stigma. 



The inner bark of the stem infused in beer has the reputation of curing the 

 jaundice. With the assistance of alum it dyes linen a beautiful yellow. The 

 roots boiled in lye, dye wool yellow. The astringent principle is so abundant 

 in the bark of this plant, that it is used in Poland to tan leather. The acid pre- 

 sent in the Barberry is the oxalic, and it renders the berries so sour that birds 

 will not eat them ; but boiled with sugar they form a most agreeable rob or 

 jelly. A very refreshing drink, which is considered serviceable in fevers, is 

 made by bruising the berries, and steeping them in water. 



A small parasitical fungus ( JEcidium Berberides) is very frequent on the 

 leaves, and some have supposed that it generates the dust which, carried from 

 the bush by winds, gives rise to the minute fungus which is the cause cf the rust 

 in wheat and other corn; this opinion, however, is groundless, for the rust in 

 corn is occasioned by the growth of Puccinia graminis, a very different plant 

 from that which grows on the leaves of the Bai berry. There is, however, an- 

 other parasite still more common on the leaves of this shrub than the JEcidium, 

 and that is the Erysiphe Berberides, or Barberry Mildew ; this frequently 

 covers the whole surface of the leaves with a thin white substance, which, when 

 examined with a microscope, appears to consist of very delicate, forked fila- 

 ments, with very minute dark-coloured, globular bodies, interspersed amongst 

 them. Whether this has any influence in causing the mildew in corn, growing 

 in its neighbourhood, I am not prepared to say. 



A variety with berries destitute of seed is cultivated in gardens ; the berries of 

 this variety are preferable to those of the other for making rob or jelly. They 

 are frequently preserved for garnishing dishes in the Winter. 



The Natural Order Berbeiu'deie consists of Shrubs or perennial herbaceous 

 Plants, for the most part smooth, and with simple or compound leaves, which 

 are alternate, and destitute of Stipules. The flowers are yellow or white, and 

 usually disposed in racemes or panicles. The sepals, which are deciduous, are 

 either 3, 4, or 6, in a double row, surrounded externally by petal-like scales. 

 Th e petals are hypogynous (inferior), either equal in number to the sepals, and 

 opposite to them, or twice as many, generally with an appendage at the base in 

 the inside. The stamens are equal in number to the petals, and opposite to 

 them. The anthers have generally two separated cells, opening from the bottom 

 to the top by a small somewhat elastic valve. The ovarium is solitary, and 

 1-celled ; the style rather lateral ; and the stigma orbicular. The fruit is 

 berried or capsular, and 1-celled. The seeds are 1, 2, or 3, and are attached to 

 the bottom of the cell on one side. The albumen is between fleshy and cor- 

 neous ; the embryo straight in the axis ; and the cotyledons flat. — See Lind. Syn. 



