BERBERIDACEAE 
35 
BERBERIDACEAE. BARBERRY FAMILY 
Shrub or herbs, ours with alternate compound leaves. Flowers oerfect, 
regular. Sepals 6, in 2 circles. Petals 6, in 2 circles, the stamens as 
many and opposite them. Anthers opening by uplifting valves or lids. 
Ovary superior, 1-celled.—Species about 130, widely distributed. 
Shrubs or low woody plants; leaves pinnate, prickly: petals bifid.1. Berberis. 
Perennial acaulescent herbs; leaves triternate; petals entire.2. Vancouveria. 
1. BERBERIS L. Barberry 
Flowers yellow, in racemes. Sepals petal-like. Fruit a berry. (Arabic 
name.) 
Filaments with a pair of recurved teeth near the apex; racemes short; bud-scales 
few, deciduous, small; leaflets 3 to 9 (or 13), pinnately veined. 
Leaflets with few (5 to 15) teeth; erect shrubs of dry ground; racemes 
densely many-flowered.....1. B. californica. 
Leaflets with more numerous teeth. 
Foliage not very dense ; leaflets shining above, their teeth spine-tipped. 
2. B. aquifolium. 
Foliage mostly in a dense terminal fascicle ; leaflets thin, with numerous 
bristle-tipped teeth.3. B. pinnata. 
Filaments without teeth ; racemes elongated ; bud-scales large, persistent; leaflets 
11 to 21, somewhat palmately veined.4 ..B. nervosa. 
1. B. californica Jepson. Stems rigidly erect, 8.6 to 17 dm. high; 
leaves 3.6 to 9.6 cm. long; raceme 2.4 to 4.8 cm. long.—Dry rocky interior 
foothills and desert ridges. 
2. B. aquifolium Pursh. Mountain Grape. Stems erect, 3 to 12 dm. 
high; racemes fascicled in the axils and at the summit, dense, 2.4 to 4.8 
cm. long; berries blue, glaucous, large.—Rocky canons, North Coast 
Ranges. 
3. B. pinnata Lag. California Barberry. Stems erect, stout, branch¬ 
ing. 1 to 4 dm. high (or to 14 dm.) ; leaves 4.8 to 9.6 cm. long; racemes 
clustered, dense.—Hill summits and slopes, mostly along the edge of 
thickets. 
4. B. nervosa Pursh. Oregon Grape. Stem simple, scaly, 1.4 to 5.8 
dm. high, bearing the leaves in a terminal tuft; leaves 2.2 to 3.8 dm. long; 
berries blue-glaucous.—Woods near the coast. 
2. VANCOUVERIA Morr. & Dec. 
Leaves basal or nearly so. Flowers in a panicle on a scape-like 
peduncle. Petals ligulate-tipped with a hood-like nectar-bearing append¬ 
age. Fruit a follicle. (Capt. George Vancouver of the English explor¬ 
ing ship Discovery, who visited San Francisco Bay in 1792.) 
1. V. parviflora Greene. Inside-out Flower. Stems 2 to 4.8 dm. 
high, sparsely hairy; leaves persisting through the winter; leaflets 1.8 to 
3.6 cm. long; flowers white or lavender-tinged.—Shady woods, Redwood 
belt. 
LAURACEAE. LAUREL FAMILY 
Aromatic trees or shrubs with alternate simple leaves, perfect regular 
flowers (in ours), no corolla, anthers opening by uplifted valves, and 
fruit a drupe.—This family, consisting of about 1000 species, mostly in 
tropical forests, is characterized by a volatile oil found in all parts of 
