4 
S\ 
BERBERIS DARWINII. 
BERBERIS DAKWmil. 
Nat. Order. — Berberaceje. 
ji^a^^. 
Generic Character. — Berberis, Linnseus. — Calyx of seven 
or nine sepals, coloured, in two or three circles, deciduous. 
Corolla of six hypogynous petals opposite the interior sepals, 
clawed, with two glands at the base within. Stamens sis, 
hypogynous, opposite the petals j filaments flattened; anthers 
extrorse, two-celled, the cells adnate, bursting by valves open- 
ing from the base to the summit. Ocary ovate, one-celled. 
Ovules two to eight, erect from the base, anatropous. Style 
terminal, very short ; stigma peltate, urabilicate. Berry one- 
celled, with from one to eight seeds. Seeds erect oblong, with a 
crustaceous testa, bilum somewhat lateral, near the base. — 
Shrubs common in the temperate parts of Europe, Asia, and 
America ; rare in tropical America. Sometimes having the 
primary leaves abortive, often changed into simple or divided 
spines ; the secondary leaves collected into a bunch upon a very 
short axillary branch, shortly stalked, simple, entire or with 
the margins ciliated or spiny : sometimes having the primary 
leaves properly developed, unequally pinnate, with two to seven 
leaflets, and a pair of very small caducous petiolar stipules ; 
peduncles axillary, one or many-flowered, racemose ; flowers 
yellow.— {Eudlicher Gen. Plant. 4814). 
Div. i. — Berbcris, Nuttall. — Primary leaves abortive, con- 
verted into spines ; secondary leaves fascicled, simple. Glands 
evident at the base of the claws of the petals, filaments not 
toothed. 
Beiiberis Darwinii, Hooker. — Darwin's Berberry. — Younger 
branches reddish- pubescent ; spines short, palmato - partite ; 
leaves rigid, leathery, shining, wedge-shaped, three - toothed 
at the apex, margins with few teeth, teeth and lobes spiny ; 
racemes longer than the leaves ; pedicels twice as long as the 
flowers, slender ; berry (persistent with the style) flask-shaped. 
— -Hooker, Icones Plantarum. t. 672. 
BESCRIPTION. — A very handsome evergreen shrub, growing three to five feet high ; readily 
distinguished by the ferruginous pubescence of the young branches. The alternate fascicles 
of leaves are closely approximated, and arise from the axils of small, palmately-divided, woody, 
five-spined scales or abortive leaves. Leaves of the fascicles rigid and leathery, from three- 
fourths to half an inch long, somewhat wedge-shaped or more truly escutcheon-shaped, tapering 
down to a very short petiole, and divided at the abrupt upper end into three teeth, two 
marginal and the intermediate longer and triangular, all tipped with spines ; the lower leaves 
have somewhat revolutc margins, with two or three lateral spiny teeth, the upper ones without 
lateral teeth; upper surface deep green and shining, lower face pale with the veins evident. 
Inflorescence terminal on the upper fascicles, in full oblong racemes arising from a sessile, 
imbricated involucre of small concave lanceolate green scales. Peduncles elongated, and, like 
the pedicels, reddish. Pedicels arising from the axils of small acutely ovate concave bracts ; 
elongated, twice or three times as long as the conspicuous flowers. Floral envelopes orange, the 
outer tinged with red. The berry apparently black with a glaucous tinge, flask-shaped in 
immature specimens. — A. H. 
History, &c. — Messrs. Vcitch and Son, of Exeter, have had the good fortune to raise and 
flower this chamiing shrub ; one of the most beautiful we have for a long time had the good 
fortune to meet with. It has been found in Chiloe, in Patagonia, in Valdivia, and in Osorno ; 
and its discoverers are Mr. Darwin, after whom it is named, Mr. Bridges, and Mr. Thomas Lobb, 
through whose instrumentality it has reached Mr. Veitch's hands. Mr. Lobb states, that when 
it becomes large, it is the finest species he has seen of the genus. Our drawing was made from 
a cut specimen exhibited by Messrs. Veitch at the meeting of the Horticultural Society on the 
1st of April, and this was accompanied by a fine bush of about a yard in height and diameter, 
growing in a pot, and literally covered with blossoms. The colour is a very bright orange. 
Culture. — With Mr. Veitch, Darwin's Berberry proves quite hardy. Whether the same result 
will be attained in less favoured localities, we arc unable to say; but, cither as a bush for the 
clump or the lawn, or as a tenant of the conservative wall, this fine evergreen must be had in 
every garden. It is a free growing plant, in good open soil, and no doubt, like most of its race, 
will propagate with facility. Touching its hardiness we find it remarked by Dr. Lindley, that 
it grows naturally near the summer limits of simw upon its native mountains. — M. 
TI1K GE.VKIIA AND SPKCIES OF (T1,T1YATKI> FKIiNS. 
Itv Mil J. HOULSTON, Royal Botanic Gabden, Kr.w; and Mi:. T. MOOKK, I-M..S., ic. 
Suh-oriler — POLYFODIAOU : f'titi' -AOBOSTXCBl B. Sr.CT. I. (Continued). 
(JvlTENOCIILiENA, /. Smith. (Acrostaohi sj>., <;/' Linnmts). — Name derived from stems, narrow, ami ehlaina, a 
^ t'lonk ; alluding In the narrow memliranous margin of the fertile ]'inn:o. 
Sori amorphous, densely covering the under aurfaoo of the fertile Brands. Veins (sterile) simple or forked, 
external. Pinna (or pinnules) linear, narrow, the margin membranous, revolute ami induaiform ; venules parallel, 
theirapices extorted, forming cartilaginous serraturos, or conniving and forming a ilm ! irgin, Racbia like 
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