Dicotyledons with Polypetalous Flowers . 
3 
Natural Order 
BERBER!DACEJi. Tab. 2. 
Diagnosis. —Shrubs with alternate often tufted leaves, or herbs with 
radical leaves. Stamens hypogynous, definite ; anthers opening by valves. 
Pistil monocarpellary. Albumen copious. 
Distribution.— A small Natural Order, most numerous in the North Temperate zone, in the 
Himalayas, and along the South American Andes. 
One British Genus; Species, i. 
Leaves usually compound; unifoliolate, and articulated at the base in Barberry (Berberis), pinnate in Mahonia. 
The leaves of the barren shoots in Barberry are reduced to trifurcate spines. 
Flowers regular, usually trimerous, racemose, fascicled or solitary. 
Sepals 6 ( 8 ), petal-like, deciduous. 
Petals 6 ( 4 ), hooded or spurred in Epimedium. 
Stamens of Barberry irritable when touched at the base of the filament inside ; the anthers of a few exotic 
genera dehisce longitudinally. 
Fruit usually a berry; a membranous capsule in Leontice, in some species opening before the seeds are ripe. 
USES, &c.—The berries of the Barberry are agreeably acid, and are used as a preserve with sugar ; the 
wood affords a yellow dye. Several species of Berberis and Mahonia are common in shrubberies, and a few spring¬ 
flowering species of the herbaceous genus Epimedium in flower-gardens. 
