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Berberis francisci -ferdinandii Schneid.

Modern name

Berberis francisci -ferdinandi C.K.Schneid.

An elegant deciduous shrub of rounded form up to 9 or 10 ft high; young shoots angled (especially vigorous virgin shoots), purplish; spines single on weak shoots, three-pronged and 112 in. long on strong ones. Leaves obovate, oval, or oval-lanceolate, pointed, always tapering at the base to a stalk 14 to 12 in. long, finely toothed, 34 to 212 in. long. Flowers yellow, 13 in. wide, produced in June on slender drooping racemes or panicles 3 to 5 in. long; individual flower-stalks 18 to 13 in. long. Fruit oval, 38 to 12 in. long, scarlet, two-seeded, borne as many as fifty on a panicle. Bot. Mag., t. 9281.

Native of W. China; introduced by Wilson in 1900. Amongst the numerous species from the same region this is recognisable by the slender inflorescence (the slenderness due to the shortness of the flower-stalks) and the large pendulous bunches of scarlet berries. It is one of the most handsome of barberries, quite hardy and a good grower.



From the Supplement (Vol. V)

The inflorescence in this species is not fully paniculate; basically it is a raceme in which the lowermost pedicels are branched, each branch bearing a flower. The taxonomic position of this species, one of the handsomest of the deciduous sorts, is uncertain, and it is possibly a natural hybrid.

Genus

Berberis

Other species in the genus