BER'BERIS EMPETRIFO'LIA. 
CROWBERRY-LEAVED BARBERRY. 
Class. Order. 
HEXANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
B£RB£RIDACE£. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
S. America. 
2 feet. 
April, May. 
Perennial. 
in 1830. 
No. 653. 
Why the word Berberis was originally adopted 
as the name of a plant, cannot, now, with any de- 
gree of certainty, be ascertained. Its origin has, 
usually, been assigned to the Arabic language, but 
some authors think the word is deduced from the 
Greek berberi, signifying a shell. 
The late severe winter (1837-8) has proved de- 
structive to some of our newly introduced species of 
Barberry, but empetrifolia has escaped uninjured ; 
at least, the plant from which we were favoured with 
our specimen for drawing, has done so. This, per- 
haps, might be expected of a shrub which is found 
abundantly about the Straights of Magellan, even 
to the most southern point of South America, rang- 
ing from 50 to 52J degrees of latitude. It now 
grows exposed in the garden of the Birmingham 
Botanical Society. It is a desirable, and in flow- 
er, a very ornamental, slender, inclining, shrub — 
one that would be shown to much advantage if 
trained to a wall of good aspect. Some of the 
species which are commonly known as Barberries 
have been arranged by botanists under a separate 
genus called Mahonia. The most prominent mark 
164 
