Berberid'ee

Berberid'ee, or BERBERIDACEÆ, a natural order of thalamifloral dicotyledons, of which the different species of Barberry (q.v.) afford the best-known examples. Many of the plants of this order are spiny shrubs; others are herbaceous perennials. Their leaves are alternate; their flowers are usually in racemes, and are readily characterised by their trimerous symmetry and recurved anther valves; the fruit is either a berry or a capsule, and is usually acid, bitter, or astringent. There are more than 100 species, widely distributed through the temperate zone and on the mountains of the tropics, but absent from South Africa and Australasia.