Berberis Flower Details

The tables below give measurements in millimeters for flower components that seem to reflect differences in the two species and the hybrids. Measurements that seem to typify B. trifoliolata are in red; those for B. swaseyi, in green; and those unique to those hybrids with longer pistils, in blue. Similarities are grouped when a difference of at least 0.4 millimeters for average measurements was found. Sepal 1 width, which did not seem significantly different for the two species, is given in black. Two different averages were given for B. swaseyi prophylls, which were of two types: scale-like (red) and leaf-like (green). Length/width ratios were computed, but only those for petals seemed significant.

Pistil, Stamens, Petals & Innermost Sepals

	pistil	stamens	petals			sepal 1
			length/width	length	width	length	width
B. trifoliolata
average	3.2	3.8	1.9	4.5	2.4	5.9	3.7
range	2.9-3.6	3.3-4.3	1.6-2.2	3.9-5.0	1.9-2.9	5.2-6.9	3.1-4.4
B. swaseyi
average	2.5	3.3	1.6	4.9	3.2	6.4	3.7
range	2.3-2.8	2.7-3.3	1.3-2.0	3.8-5.5	2.6-3.9	5.5-7.5	2.5-5.1
Hybrid - pistil < 2.8 mm
average	2.6	3.5	1.6	4.7	3.0	6.2	3.6
range	2.4-2.7	3.1-3.8	1.4-1.8	4.4-5.4	2.6-3.5	5.4-7.3	3.2-4.0
Hybrid - pistil > 2.7 mm
average	3.2	4.1	1.7	5.8	3.4	7.3	4.1
range	2.8-3.6	3.5-4.6	1.6-2.0	5.4-6.5	2.7-3.9	6.5-7.7	3.7-4.3

Outer Sepals & Prophylls

	sepal 2		sepal 3		prophylls
	length	width	length	width	length	width
B. trifoliolata
average	4.3	2.7	2.3	1.9	1.4	1.3
range	2.6-5.9	1.5-4.0	1.8-3.2	1.0-2.9	0.8-1.9	0.8-1.6
B. swaseyi
average	5.3	3.5	3.6	2.5	1.5  ,  3.3	1.0  ,  1.9
range	4.0-6.6	2.6-4.7	2.5-4.7	1.7-3.6	1.1-6.7	0.4-2.5
Hybrid - pistil < 2.8 mm
average	5.1	3.4	3.2	2.7	1.6	1.1
range	4.5-5.8	2.9-3.9	2.5-4.5	1.7-4.4	1.1-2.0	1.0-1.2
Hybrid - pistil > 2.7 mm
average	5.8	3.7	3.4	2.9	2.1
range	4.6-6.8	2.7-4.1	2.7-3.9	2.4-3.3	1.7-2.3

    *The uppermost two prophylls when attached to the receptacle or immediately below it.