Berberis beaniana Schneid.

A deciduous shrub up to 8 ft high, of erect, rather dense growth; young shoots glabrous, reddish brown, becoming grey; spines three-forked, 1⁄2 to 1 in. long. Leaves three to eight in a cluster at the joints, oval-lanceolate, spine-tipped, tapered at the base, toothed or sometimes entire, dark green above, rather glaucous beneath; 3⁄4 to 2 in. long, 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. wide. Flowers 1⁄4 in. wide, deep yellow, produced in June ten to twenty together in cymose panicles, 11⁄2 to 2 in. long. Fruit narrowly egg-shaped, 3⁄8 in. long, bright purple. Bot. Mag., t. 8781.

Native of W. Szechwan, China; introduced by Wilson in 1904 (No. 1930). It is a handsome shrub producing a cluster of erect stems which arch outwards at the top, its beauty being greatest when bearing fruit. It was purchased in 1913 for Kew under the name “B. veitchii”, but it has, of course, no close affinity with the true B. veitchii Schneid. I have noted that B. beaniana bears fruit more freely when three or four plants are growing close together, but this applies equally well to many shrubs grown for the beauty of their fruits.