CHAP. VII. OF THE HARDY AND HALF-HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER MENISPERMA CEÆ. DISTINCTIVE Characteristics. Thalamiflorous (H. B.). Sexes, in most, diœcious; in the rest, monoecious or polygamous. Sepals and petals similar; the latter not present in some. Stamens monadelphous, or rarely free; equal in number with the petals, and opposite to them, rarely double that number, or fewer, Ovaries, in some, numerous, each one-styled, all somewhat connected at the base; or, in others, only one, crowned with many styles, and many-celled, and, therefore, consisting of many carpels grown together, very rarely, one-celled, and this, most likely, by abortion. Fruit, in most, baccate or drupaceous, oneseeded or many-seeded, oblique or lunulate, compressed, with the seeds of the same form. Embryo curved or peripheric. Albumen none, or very sparing and fleshy. (Don's Mill., i. p. 102., with adaptation.)- Climbing or twining shrubs, mostly natives within the tropics, with alternate, stalked, usually cordate or peltate, simple, rarely compound leaves, always with the middle nerve terminating in an awn or point; destitute of stipules. Flowers small; in most species, in axillary racemes. (Don's Mill., i. p. 102.) The species in British gardens are included in the genera Menispermum and Cócculus, and are natives of North America and Dahuria. They are all of the easiest culture, and are propagated by dividing the root, or by cuttings. GENUS I. MENISPERMUM L. THE MOONSEED. cándria. Lin. Syst. Die'cia Dode Identification. Tourn.; Dec. Prod., 1. p. 102.; Don's Mill., 1. p. 112. Gen. Char, Sepals and petals disposed in a quaternary order, in two or three series. Male flowers with 16 to 20 stamens; female flowers with 2 to 4 ovaries. Drupe baccate, roundish-kidney-shaped, I-seeded.-Climbing shrubs, with alternate, peltate or cordate, smooth leaves. Peduncles axillary or supra-axillary. Male and female peduncles rather dissimilar. Flowers small, greenish-white. (Don's Mill., i. p. 112.) 1. M. CANADE'NSE. The Canadian Moonseed. Identification. Lin. Sp.; Dec Prod., 1. p. 102.; Don's Mill., 1. p. 112. Synonymes. M. canadénse var. & Lamarck; M. angulatum Moench; Ménisperme du Canada, Bon. Jard.; Canadischer Mondsaame, Ger. Engravings. Schkuhr. H., 3. t. 337.; Lam. Dict., t. 824.; and our fig. 42. Racemes Spec. Char. Leaves peltate, smoothish, somewhat appearance of a herbaceous plant, than of a shrub. The flowers are small, and the berries black. Variety. M. c. 2 lobatum Dec. The lobed-leaved Canadian Moonseed. M. virgínicum L.- This variety is distinguished by the angles of the leaves being acutish, and the flowers of a greenish white. Figured in Dill. Elth., t. 178. fig. 219. Geography, History, &c. Found in North America, among bushes, on the banks of rivers, and on fertile declivities, from Canada to Carolina; and also indigenous in Siberia. It was cultivated, in 1713, by Bishop Compton; and is not unfrequent in British botanic gardens, and in our principal nurseries. It will grow in any free, deep, and rather moist soil; and, as it sends up numerous shoots from its thick woody roots, it is easily propagated by dividing them, or by layers made in autumn, which will root in one year. Both the male and female plants are in Lee's Nursery; and the male of the variety M. c. lobàtum is in the garden of the London Horticultural Society. Price, of plants in the London nur- 32. MENISPERMUM DAU`RICUM Dec. Identification. Dec. Prod., 1. p. 102.; Don's Mill., 1. p. 112. Engravings. Deless. Icon., 1. t. 100. and our fig. 43. 3. M. SMILA'CINUM Dec. The Smilax-like Moonseed. Identification. Dec. Syst., 1. p. 541.; Don's Mill., 1. p. 112. Synonyme. Cissampelos smilacina Lin. Engravings. Jacq. Icon., t. 629.; Catesb. Carol., 1. t. 51. ; and our fig. 44. 44 43 Spec. Char. Leaves.peltate, smoothish, cordate-roundish, bluntly angular, under surface glaucous. Racemes simple. Petals 4. (Don's Mill., i. p. 112.) A climbing shrub, with slender stalks, and leaves resembling those of the common ivy. The flowers, which appear in July and August, are white, and the berries are red, about the size of small peas, and grow in clusters. Found in Carolina by Catesby, and first described by him. It was introduced into Britain in 1776, by Dr. Hope, then professor of botany at Edinburgh. The plant is rather scarce in British gardens; and, when it is met with, it is generally in a green. house; though there can be little doubt of its being half. hardy. GENUS II. CO'CCULUS Bauh. THE COCCULUS. Lin. Syst. Dice'cia Hexándria. Identification. Bauh. Pin., 511.; Dec. Prod., 1. p. 96.; Don's Mill., 1. p. 104. Synonymes. Menispermum L.; Wendlandia Willd.; Andróphilax Wendl. Derivation. From coccus, the systematic name of cochineal, which is applied to this genus on account of the greater number of the species bearing scarlet berries. Gen. Char. Sepals and petals disposed in a ternary order, in 2, very rarely in 3 series. Male flowers with 6 free stamens opposite the petals; female ones with 3 or 6 carpels. Drupes baccate, 1 to 6, usually obliquely reniform, Cotyledons distant. (Don's Mill., i. p. 104.) somewhat flattened, 1-seeded. Description. This is a genus of climbing or twining shrubs, with peltate, Peduncles axillary, cordate, ovate or oblong, entire, rarely lobed, leaves. rarely lateral; those bearing male flowers are usually many-flowered; but those bearing female flowers are few-flowered, either free from bracteas, or furnished with very small ones. The berries of many of the species of this genus are often made into a paste, and used in their native countries to intoxicate fish and birds, &c., in order to take them; and it is said that brewers use them to give their ale and porter an intoxicating quality. (Don's Mill., i. p. 104.) The species are chiefly tropical, and only one that is hardy has yet been introduced into the British gardens. 31. Co'CCULUS CAROLI'NUS Dec. The Carolina Cocculus. Identification. Dec. Prod., 1. p. 98.; Don's Mill., 1. p. 107. Synonymes. Menispermum carolinum Lin.; Wendlandia populifolia Willd., Pursh, and Dill. ; Androphilax scandens Wendl.; Baumgártía scandens Moench.; Ménisperme de la Caroline, Fr.; Carolinischer Mondsaame, Ger. Engravings. Dill. Elth., 223. t. 178. f. 219.; Wendl. Obs., 3. t. 16. ; and our fig. 45. Spec. Char., &c. Leaves cordate or ovate, entire, obtuse, and somewhat 3-lobed; under surface velvety pubescent. Male racemes floriferous from the base, female ones 3-flowered. (Don's Mill., i. p. 107.) A twining shrub, a native of Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, in woods and hedges, as the black bryony is in England. The flowers are dicecious, but, according to Wendland, often hermaphrodite. Though ligneous in its native country, in cold countries it is often herbaceous or subherbaceous. The flowers, which appear in June and July, are greenish; and the berries, when ripe, are of a red colour. It was introduced into England in 1759, and is not uncommon in botanic gardens and the principal nurseries. Price, in London, 1s. 6d. a plant; at Bollwyller, ?; in New York, 1 dollar. App. i. Anticipated Menispermàceæ. In p. 175. are enumerated some genera and species belonging to this order which are natives of the Himalaya; and in p. 176. some that are natives of China and Japan, which, it is considered, would be found half-hardy in our gardens. CHAP. VIII. OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER THIS order is distinguished from other thalamiflorous ones by the following traits. Sepals usually 6, in two whorls, deciduous, and furnished with petal-like scales on the outside. The petals are equal in number with the sepals; and the stamens equal in number with the petals, and opposite to them. The anthers " open by reflexed valves; that is to say, the face of each cell of the anther peels off except at the point, where it adheres as if it were hinged there;" a structure so remarkable, Dr. Lindley observes, as to be "found in no European plants except Berberàcca and the laurel tribe." (Penny Cyc., vol. iv. p. 259.) The genera containing the hardy species are two, Bérberis and Mahonia. They are shrubs, or low trees, inhabitants of Europe, Asia, and of North and South America; but they are not met with in the interior of Africa, or the South Sea Islands. They are usually found in the temperate zones; but some of them inhabit high mountains within the tropics. The seeds are very tenacious of life, and, being small, and easily conveyed from one country to another, a number of new species have recently been introduced from Nepal and South America. The wood of some of the species is used for dyeing yellow; and the more common have been admitted into the materia medica, from the days of Galen to the present time, on account of their bitter and astringent properties. All the species are ornamental, and those of them which are evergreen eminently so. They are all readily propagated by seeds, which most of them ripen in England, and also by side suckers and root suckers, which almost all the species produce in abundance. The fruit is generally edible, and abounds in the malic acid. The genera and species of this order have recently been arranged and described, in a masterly manner, by Dr. Lindley, in the Penny Cyclopædia; from which article, from Don's Miller, and from our own observations, we have drawn up this chapter. The distinctive characters of the two genera of Bérberis and Mahònia are as under : BERBERIS. Sepals 6, furnished on the outside with 3 scales. Petals 6, with 2 glands on the inside of each at the base. Stamens toothless. Berries 2-3-seeded. (Don's Mill., i. p. 114.) Flowers in simple, mostly pendulous, racemes; in some species solitary. Leaves undivided. MAHONIA. Sepals 6, furnished on the outside with 3 scales. Petals 6, without glands on the inside. Stamens furnished with a tooth on each side, at the top of the filament. Berries 3-9-seeded. (Ibid.) Flowers in erect racemes, that are disposed several together in a panicle. Leaves pinnate. GENUS I. BE'RBERIS Lin. THE BERBERRY. Lin. Syst. Hexándria Monogýnia. Identification. Lin. Gen., 442.; Dec. Prod., 1. p 105.; Don's Mill., 1. p. 114. Synonymes. Pipperidge Push; E'pine vinette, Fr. ; Berberitze, Ger. Derivations. Berberys is the Arabic word used for this plant by Averrhoes and other writers on medicine; but some persons derive the name from the Greek word berberi, signifying a shell, from the leaves of the common species having a hollow surface. Bochart says that the word Berberis is derived from the Phoenician word barar, which signifies shining like a shell, from their shining leaves. Gerard says that the word Berbery is a corruption of amyrberis, the name given to the plant by Avicenna. Du Hamel says that Bérberis is derived from an Indian word signifying mother of pearl. Pipperidge bush, or piprage tree, Gerard says, is Dr. Turner's name for the plant, and it is still given to it in Cambridgeshire. E'pine vinette signifies the acid, or sorrel, thorn, from the taste of the fruit and leaves. Gen. Char. Sepals 6, guarded on the outside by 3 scales. Petals 6, with 2 glands on the inside of each. Stamens toothless. Berries 2-3-seeded. Seeds 2, rarely 3, laterally inserted at the base of the berries, erect, oblong, with a crustaceous coat and fleshy albumen. Cotyledons leafy, elliptical. Radiale long, capitellate at the tip. (Don's Mill., i. p. 114.) B. heterophylla Juss. has toothed stamens. Description. The species are all shrubs of from 2 ft. or 3 ft. to 18 ft. or 20 ft. in height, in a wild state; some of them attaining the height of 30 ft. in gardens. They all throw up numerous side suckers, and the stronger-growing species, if these were carefully removed, might be formed into very handsome small trees. In all the species the flowers are yellow. The fruit is generally red; but in some species it is black or dark purple, and in some varieties of the species it is white or yellow: it is always acid, and more or less astringent. "The spines of the common berberry are a curious state of leaf, in which the parenchyma is displaced, and the ribs have become indurated. They, as well as all the simple leaves of ordinary appearance, are articulated with the petiole, and are therefore compound leaves reduced to a single foliole; whence the supposed genus Mahònia does not differ essentially from Berberis in foliage any more than in fructification." (Lindley, Introd. to N. S., p. 31.) The species are generally thorny, and most of them flower freely in spring, bearing fruit abundantly in autumn. The irritability of the stamens of the genus Bérberis, and more particularly of those of the common berberry, of B. canadensis, B. sinensis, and, perhaps, of all the species the flowers of which expand, is a very remarkable property, which was first discovered by Kölreuter; probably from observing that the stamens were put in motion by the proboscis of insects extracting honey from the flowers. Sir James Edward Smith has given a copious account of this phenomenon in the Phil. Trans., vol. lxxviii. p. 158., and the last, and most clear and concise, description of it will be found to be that by Dr. Lindley, under the article Bérberis, in the Penny Cyclopædia. The stamens," when the filament is touched on the inside with the point of a pin, or any other hard instrument, bend forward towards the pistil, touch the stigma with the anther, remain curved for a short time, and then partially recover their erect position. This is best seen in warm dry weather. After heavy rain, the phenomenon can scarcely be observed, owing, in all probability, to the springs of the filaments having been already set in motion by the dashing of the rain upon them, or to the flowers having been forcibly struck against each other. The cause of this curious action, like that of all other vital phenomena, is unknown. All that has been ascertained concerning it is this, that the irritability of the filament is affected differently by different noxious substances. It has been found by Messrs. Macaire and Marcet, that, if a berberry is poisoned with any corrosive agent, such as arsenic or corrosive sublimate, the filaments become rigid and brittle, and lose their irritability; while, on the other hand, if the poisoning be effected by any narcotic, such as prussic acid, opium, or belladonna, the irritability is destroyed by the filaments becoming so relaxed and flaccid, that they can be easily bent in any direction. It is difficult to draw from this curious fact any other inference than this, viz. that in plants, as well as in animals, there is something analogous to a nervous principle, which is more highly developed in some plants, or in some organs, than in others." (Pen. Cyc., iv. p. 260.) According to Sir J. E. Smith, the purpose of this remarkable function in the stamens of the berberry is evident. "In the original position of the stamens the anthers are sheltered from rain by the concavity of the petals. Thus, probably, they remain till some insect comes to extract honey from the base of the flowers, and, thrusting itself between the filaments, unavoidably touches them in the most irritable part; and thus the impregnation of the germs is performed." (Phil. Trans., lxxviii. p. 158.) All the species are easily propagated by seed, which most of them produce in abundance; those which do not are readily increased by the removal of their side suckers, or by layers. They grow in any soil, though they mostly prefer one that is calcareous. will Though the species of this genus are commonly treated as shrubs, and these shrubs, from their numerous side suckers, have, in general, a rough, inelegant appearance; yet there are some of them which may be formed into the most beautiful and durable small trees that can be introduced into gardenesque scenery. The common berberry, when pruned up to a single stem to the height of 8 ft. or 10 ft., and all suckers from the root, and all side buds from the stem removed the moment they appear, will form a fine orbicular head with the extremities of the branches drooping; and this pendulous appearance will increase with the age of the tree. Such a tree, covered, as it will be every year, with yellow blossoms in the beginning of summer, and with bright scarlet fruit in autumn, may rank in beauty and value with the low trees of the genera Crataegus, Cotoneaster, and Amelanchier. |