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|image_caption=''Berberis darwinii'' shoot with flowers
|image_caption=''Berberis darwinii'' shoot with flowers
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Berberis (Arabic name). Berberidaceae. BarBerry. Ornamental deciduous or evergreen shrubs, cultivated for their handsome foliage assuming in most species brilliant autumnal tints, and for their bright yellow flowers and attractive fruit.
Spiny shrubs with yellow inner bark and wood: Lvs. alternate, often fascicled, usually glabrous, simple, deciduous or evergreen: fls. in elongated or umbel-like, rarely compound racemes, or fascicled or solitary; sepals 6 with 2 or 3 bractlets below; petals 6, often smaller than sepals and usually with 2 glands near the base; stamens 6, included, the anthers opening with valves; ovary superior, 1-celled, with 1 to many ovules: fr. a berry with 1 or several oblong seeds.—Nearly 175 species in Amer. from Brit. Col. to Patagonia, in Asia, S.Eu., and N. Afr. Monogr. by Schneider in Bull. Hort. Boissier, Ser. II. 5:33, 133, 391, 449, 655, 800, 813 (1905). Mahonia is now considered by most botanists as a distinct genus, differing from the true barberries by the pinnate Lvs., by the racemes appearing in the axils of the bud-scales and by the spineless branches. The spines of the barberry are, morphologically, Lvs., and the Lvs. are borne on short branches in their axils (Fig. 538). The stamens are sensitive; when the filaments are touched with a pin, the fls. first open, and the stamens fly forward upon the pistil. Alfred Rehder.
The different species of hardy deciduous barberries are excellent decorative shrubs with pleasing habits of growth. The flowers of most of them in spring and early summer, whilst not conspicuous, are very attractive, and the fruits of nearly all are highly ornamental in late summer, fall and early winter on account of their red, dark blue or nearly black color. Berberis amurensis, B. sinensis, B. diaphana, B. Poiretii, B. Regeliana, B. Sieboldii, and B. Thunbergii all assume brilliant fall colors in varying shades of orange and red. Some species, as B. Thunbergii, B. Sieboldii, and B. Rehderiana, retain their bright red fruits unchanged until the following spring, while the fruits of the other species shrivel and dry up during the winter.
Berberis aristata is the strongest-growing species and attains a height of 12 to 13 feet in twenty years, with gracefully arching branches, and has violet-red fruits; the thickish leaves are semi-persistent. B. canadensis forms a neat compact bush 3 to 3½ feet with upright spreading branches. The small clusters of bright red fruits are very attractive. This is a rare shrub in cultivation, and B. vulgaris has often been sold for it. B. sinensis is a neat, graceful shrub with pendulous branches 3½ to 4 feet and bears numerous clusters of bright red fruits. B. diaphana forms a dense compact shrub 2½ to 3 feet, but its chief decorative value is in its rich fall coloring, as the solitary flowers and fruits are inconspicuous. B. Regeliana has an upright dense habit, and grows from 5 to 6 feet. It has the largest leaves of any of the deciduous species, and the orange- red fruits are remarkably ornamental throughout late summer and fall, until midwinter. This is perhaps the most beautiful barberry in cultivation. B. Sieboldii is slow-growing, but is a very choice species. The habit is upright and compact, and the fall coloring is brilliant. The small vermilion-red fruit-clusters are very attractive. B. vulgaris, which is commonly grown and has become extensively naturalized, has large clusters of brilliantly colored fruits, and is a most useful shrub in border plantations. It is proli6c in many varieties. Perhaps the most distinctive form is the one with yellow fruits, which are usually seedless, or, if the seeds are present, they are abortive. This species makes a good hedge plant as does also B. amurensis; for low ornamental hedges. B. Thunbergii is excellent. Since it makes a rather broad hedge, the plant is most beautiful when it is not necessary to trim it. B. Wilsonae is a small beautiful shrub, 2 to 2½ feet with slender branches and small leaves. The coral- red fruits are very distinctive. The tips of the branches usually are winterkilled, but the plants recover rapidly in summer.
Few of the evergreen species are dependable in the northeastern states. B. Sargentiana, a handsome shrub, attaining a height of about 6 ft., with rather large oblong leaves, has proved quite hardy, and B. buxifolia, B. stenophylla and B. verruculosa nearly hardy in Massachusetts. B. Neubertii rarely has the leaves scorched by winter's cold, but is very slow-growing. For other evergreen species, see Mahonia (formerly included in Berberis).
The root and the inner bark of several species are sometimes used for dyeing yellow. Some species have medicinal properties. The fruits of B. vulgaris are made into jelly. In wheat-growing districts, planting of Berberis should be avoided, as it is the host of the aecidium stage of Puccinia graminis, a fungus which causes the wheat-rust. Destroying the Berberis, however, will not check the propagation of the fungus, as it is able to grow and to spread for years without forming the aecidium stage.
To secure the best results from most of the barberries, they should be planted in moist, light loam, well drained. The deciduous species, however, can be grown in drier situations.
Barberries germinate readily from seeds. The seeds should be separated from the pulp by maceration and sown in "flats" or broadcast in beds in the fall, and they will germinate the following season. The seeds of rare and scarce species should be sown in the greenhouse where they will germinate during the winter. Berberis Wilsonae will germinate in two to three weeks in the greenhouse if sown as soon as ripe. Some of the species cross when grown together, but B. sinensis, B. Regeliana and B. vulgaris appear to come true. The progeny of B. Thunbergii sometimes seem to show that they have been affected by the pollen of B. vulgaris.
Most of the barberries can be propagated from the green cuttings of the young wood taken from the first to the middle of June, and placed in sand in a shaded hotbed in precisely the same way as lilacs, viburnums or hydrangeas are treated. This is the best way to perpetuate individuals of strikingly characteristic habits. A very small percentage of the cuttings of the ripe wood placed in the greenhouse in the fall will "strike," but not enough to pay. Some species may be propagated by suckers. Rarer kinds and varieties are sometimes grafted on B. vulgaris or B. Thunbergii, in August or September under glass, or in early spring in the greenhouse. Grafting, however, is not to be recommended, for the stock usually throws up suckers which are often overlooked on account of the similarity of the foliage of many species; they will overgrow the cion in a short time and smother it. A good plan is to use the purple-leaved barberry as a stock; the suckers are thus easily noticeable and may be removed in time.
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'''''Berberis''''' (''[[Syllable stress of Botanical Latin|Bér-be-ris]]'', '''barberry''', '''pepperidge bush''') a [[genus]] of about 450-500 species of [[deciduous]] and [[evergreen]] [[shrub]]s from 1-5 m tall with thorny shoots, native to the temperate and subtropical regions of [[Europe]], [[Asia]], [[Africa]], [[North America]] and [[South America]]. They are closely related to the genus ''[[Mahonia]]'', which is included within ''Berberis'' by some [[botanist]]s.
'''''Berberis''''' (''[[Syllable stress of Botanical Latin|Bér-be-ris]]'', '''barberry''', '''pepperidge bush''') a [[genus]] of about 450-500 species of [[deciduous]] and [[evergreen]] [[shrub]]s from 1-5 m tall with thorny shoots, native to the temperate and subtropical regions of [[Europe]], [[Asia]], [[Africa]], [[North America]] and [[South America]]. They are closely related to the genus ''[[Mahonia]]'', which is included within ''Berberis'' by some [[botanist]]s.