the barberry, or pepperidge bush; a genus of the monogynia order, belonging to the hexandra clas of plants.

Species. 1. The vulgaris, or common barberry, grows naturally in hedges in many parts of England, as also in some parts of Scotland; but is also cultivated in gardens on account of its fruit, which is pickled, and used for garnishing dishes. It rises to the height of eight or ten feet, with many stalks, which have a white bark, yellow on the inside; the stalks and branches are armed with sharp thorns, which commonly grow by threes; the leaves are oval, obtuse, and slightly sawed on their edges. The flowers come out from the wings of the leaves, in small ramose bunches, like those of the currant bush, and are of a yellow colour; these are succeeded by oval fruit, which are at first green, but when ripe turn to a fine red colour. The flowers appear in May, and the fruit ripens in September. There are two or three varieties of this shrub, which, by some, have been taken for distinct species: one is the barberry without stone; another, the barberry with white fruit; and a third is called by Tournfort taller eastern barberry with a black sweet fruit. Of these Mr. Miller observes, that the first certainly depends on the age of the plant; because the suckers taken from those bulbes commonly produce fruit with stones: the second, he says, seldom bears any fruit; the leaves are of a lighter green colour, and the bark of the stalks are whiter than those of the common kind: the third appears to be the same with the common sort, excepting the colour and flavour of its fruit, which can never indicate a specific difference. 2. The canadensis, is a native of that country from whence it takes its name, and was formerly much more common in British gardens than at present. The leaves are much broader and shorter than those of the common sort, and the fruit is black when ripe. 3. The cretica, with a single flower in each footstalk, is at present very rare in Britain; the plants being tender whilst young, and most of them killed by severe frost. This never rises more than three or four feet high in Britain; but sends out many stalks from the root, which are strongly armed with spines at every joint: the leaves are produced without order, and are shaped like those of the narrow leaved box-tree: the flowers come out from between the leaves, each having a slender footstalk; but they are not succeeded by fruit in Britain.

Culture. The first sort is generally propagated by suckers, which are sent out in great plenty from the root; but such plants are very apt to send out suckers in greater plenty than those that are propagated by layers; so the latter method is preferable. The best time for laying down the branches is in the autumn, when the leaves begin to fall: the young shoots of the same year are the best for this purpose; there will be well rooted by the next autumn, when they may be taken off, and planted where they are designed to remain. Where this plant is cultivated for its fruit, it should be planted single, not in hedges as was formerly the practice; the suckers should be every autumn taken away, and the gross shoots pruned out: by this means the fruit will be much fairer and in greater plenty than on those that are suffered to grow wild. The other sorts may be propagated in the same manner; only the third should be planted in pots, and sheltered as soon as the young shoots are taken off, till the plants have acquired strength, when they may be turned out, and planted in a warm situation.

Medicinal and other qualities. The berries, which are so acid that birds will not feed upon them, are moderately astringent; and have been given with success in bilious fluxes, and diseases proceeding from heat, acrimony, and thinness of the juices. Among the Egyptians barberries are used in fluxes and in malignant fevers. fevers, for abating heat, quenching thirst, raising the strength, and preventing putrefaction: the fruit is macerated for a day and a night, in about 12 times its quantity of water, with the addition of a little fennel-seed, or the like, to prevent offence to the stomach; the liquor strained off, and sweetened with sugar or syrup of citron, is given the patient liberally to drink.

Proper Alpinus, from whose treatise de medicina Ægyptiorum Dr Lewis extracted this account, informs us, that he took this medicine himself with happy success, in a petitential fever accompanied with an immoderate bilious diarrhoea. The leaves also are gratefuly acid. The flowers are offensive to the smell when near, but at a distance their odour is extremely fine. An infusion of the bark in white-wine is purgative. The roots boiled in ley dye wool yellow. In Poland they dye leather of a most beautiful yellow with the bark of the root. The inner bark of the stems dyes linen of a fine yellow with the assistance of alum. This shrub should never be permitted to grow in corn lands; for the ears of wheat that grow near it never fill, and its influence in this respect has been known to extend across a field of 300 or 400 yards. Cows, sheep, and goats, eat it; horses and swine refuse.