Berberis manipurana Ahrendt

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Berberis manipurana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/berberis/berberis-manipurana/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

acute
Sharply pointed.
compound
Made up or consisting of two or more similar parts (e.g. a compound leaf is a leaf with several leaflets).
ellipsoid
An elliptic solid.
lanceolate
Lance-shaped; broadest in middle tapering to point.
lustrous
Smooth and shiny.
ovary
Lowest part of the carpel containing the ovules; later developing into the fruit.
ovule
Structure inside ovary that when fertilised becomes a seed.
reticulate
Arranged in a net-like manner.
sessile
Lacking a stem or stalk.
stigma
(in a flower) The part of the carpel that receives pollen and on which it germinates. May be at the tip of a short or long style or may be reduced to a stigmatic surface at the apex of the ovary.
synonym
(syn.) (botanical) An alternative or former name for a taxon usually considered to be invalid (often given in brackets). Synonyms arise when a taxon has been described more than once (the prior name usually being the one accepted as correct) or if an article of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature has been contravened requiring the publishing of a new name. Developments in taxonomic thought may be reflected in an increasing list of synonyms as generic or specific concepts change over time.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Berberis manipurana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/berberis/berberis-manipurana/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

(for synonyms see below)

An evergreen shrub to 6 ft or somewhat more high, of mounded habit; stems grooved and slightly angled, yellowish brown when mature. Spines three-branched, up to 114 in. long, grooved beneath. Leaves fairly rigid, upper surface medium green, slightly lustrous, finely reticulate and with a pronounced ring-vein formed from the loops uniting adjacent lateral veins, underside paler green and glossy, with raised main veins but obscure reticulation; they are elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, acute, up to about 312 in. long and 1 in. wide, with six to ten short spine-teeth on each side. Flowers in May, rich yellow, about 38 in. wide on pedicels 12 in. or slightly more long, produced in clusters emerging from one to three separate buds on each spur and up to fifteen or so in all in each compound cluster. Ovules normally five. Fruits about 38 in. long, ellipsoid, purplish black and bloomy; stigma sessile.

Native of Manipur in north-east India and perhaps of the Himalaya; discovered by Sir George Watt in 1882 and introduced by him. It was originally distributed as B. wallichiana latifolia, a name later erroneously altered to B. hookeri latifolia. According to Dr Ahrendt, it was also grown as ‘B. knightii’, a name originally given to a quite different plant of South American provenance, and was also confused with the Javanese B. xanthoxylon. However, the horticultural synonym which has gained widest currency in recent times is ‘B. julianae’. It is really quite distinct from that Chinese species, and the confusion no doubt arose from the fact that B. julianae was at one time, like B. manipurana, identified as B. xanthoxylon.

B. manipurana is apparently closely related to the little-known Himalayan B. wallichiana, but this, according to Ahrendt, has only one ovule in each ovary. It is perhaps the handsomest of the evergreen Asiatic barberries, vigorous and leafy, and with ornamental flowers. It is hardy near London in a position sheltered from cold winds.