_Berberis vulgaris_
_Flowers_--Yellow, small, odor disagreeable, 6-parted, borne in
drooping, many-flowered racemes from the leaf axils along arching twigs.
_Stem_: A much-branched, smooth, gray shrub, 5 to 8 ft. tall, armed with
sharp spines. _Leaves_: From the 3-pronged spines (thorns); oval or
obovate, bristly edged. _Fruit_: Oblong, scarlet, acid berries.
_Preferred Habitat_--Thickets, roadsides, dry or gravelly soil.
_Flowering Season_--May-June.
_Distribution_--Naturalized in New England and Middle states; less
common in Canada and the West. Europe and Asia.
When the twigs of barberry bushes arch with the weight of clusters of
beautiful bright berries in September, every one must take notice of a
shrub so decorative, which receives scant attention from us, however,
when its insignificant little flowers are out.
In the barberry bushes, as in the gorse, when grown in dry, gravelly
situations, we see many leaves and twigs modified into thorns to
diminish the loss of water through evaporation by exposing too much leaf
surface to the sun and air. That such spines protect the plants which
bear them from the ravages of grazing cattle is, of course, an
additional motive for their presence. Under cultivation, in well-watered
garden soil--and how many charming varieties of barberries are
cultivated--the thorny shrub loses much of its armor, putting forth many
more leaves, in rosettes, along more numerous twigs, instead. Even the
prickly pear cactus might become mild as a lamb were it to forswear
sandy deserts and live in marshes instead. Country people sometimes rob
the birds of the acid berries to make preserves. The wood furnishes a
yellow dye.