BERAUNITE, the name of n phosphate of the peroxide of Iron which has a hyacinth-red colour, becoming darker on exposure to the atmosphere. (liana, L'EIIBEllIDA'CE B, Berfocrids, the Barberry Tribe, a natural order of plants belonging to the class of Exogens or Dicotyledons. It is readily known by three characters :—I, Its 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. 2, Its stamens are opposite the petals. 3, Its flowers are usually formed upon a ternary plan, there being three or six sepals, and a like number of petals and of stamens. This last character is more liable to exception than the two others. The remarkable structure of the anther is found in no European plants except Berberidacete and the Laurel Tribe [Lana,icEx] ; and as the latter has neither petals nor a ternary arrangement of the parts of the flower, it can never be mistaken for these. The relations of this order are with Fumariacew, l'itacew, and Ranunculacue. The present order consists of bushes or herbs, extremely dissimilar to each other in appearance, inhabiting the cooler parts of the world, being unknown in the tropics except on the tops of lofty mountains. They are not met with in Africa or the South Sea Islands. Their juice usually stains yellow, and their bark or stems if not woody are bitter and slightly astringent. The bitter leaves of Epimedium alpinum are said to be sudorific. The seeds of Caulophylum Thalic troides have been employed as a substitute for coffee. The leaves of Bovardia chrysogonuag are eaten in the East like sorrel. The tubers of B. Rauwolfii are eaten in Persia. Leontice Leontopetalum contains in its roots a sufficient quantity of alkali to render it a substitute for soap in Aleppo.
The species of this genus are interesting both for their utility and beauty. The value of the bark and root of the Common Barberry for dyeing leather and linen of a yellow colour is well known. Dr. Boyle has shown that this property exists in the species of India, especially in Bcrberis aristata ; and it has been ascertained by Vauqueliu that a plant found on the Nilgherries of Hindustan (B. tinctoria) is inferior to
few woods for dyeing yellow. The acid quality of the fruit has rendered all the species more or less esteemed; that of B. aristate and B. Nepalensis is dried by the mountaineers of India as raisins, and sent to the plains for sale. The bitterness and astringency of the bark has caused them to be received into the list of useful medicinal plants ; and it has been ascertained by Dr. Boyle that the Adciov Ivaludy (Lycium Indi cum) of Dioscorides, concerning which so much doubt has always existed, was an Indian species of Barberry now called Berberis Lyciunt. (Royle's ' Illustrations of the Botany of the Himalayan Mountains,' &e. p. 63.) The species of Berberis are obviously divided into two great groups, of which the first has undivided leaves like the Common Barberry, and the others are pinnated, after the manner of the leaf of an ash tree. Botanists call the latter Mahonias. Ash-Barberry may be taken as their English designation.
Section I. Leaves simple.—TRUE BARBERRIES. 1. Leaves thin, deciduous ; Flowers solitary.
B. Sibirica, Siberian Barberry.—Leaves obovate, obtuse, deeply and irregularly toothed ; flowers solitary, shorter than the leaves ; spines deeply divided into from three to seven shining partitions. A small shrub found on exposed rocks on the hills and lower mountains of Altaic Siberia, where it is very common. The berries are, according to Pallas, obovate, and of a red colour. This species does not thrive in England, but is always a scrubby bush of inelegant appearance.
2. Leaves thin, mostly deciduous ; Flowers in racemes.
B. Candian Barberry.—Spines in three or more divisions ; leaves small, obovate, acute, nearly free from toothings ; flowers in very short compact racemes. Not uncommon on the mountains of Candin and Greece, whence it has been brought to our gardens. It is a dwarf scrubby bush, looking like a starved specimen of the Common Barberry. Its berries are said to be black, ovate, 2-seeded, and austere rather than acid.