Flora of North America species comparison

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Berberis nervosa

Berberis

Cascade Oregon-grape, dull Oregon-grape, dwarf Oregon-grape, Oregon grape

algerita, barberry, berbéris, mahonia, Oregon-grape
Habit Shrubs, evergreen, 0.1-0.8(-2) m. Shrubs or subshrubs, evergreen or deciduous, 0.1-4.5(-8) m, glabrous or with tomentose stems.
Rhizomes

present or absent, short or long, not nodose.
Stems

monomorphic, without short axillary shoots.

branched or unbranched, monomorphic or dimorphic, i.e., all elongate or with elongate primary stems and short axillary spur shoots.
Bark

of 2d-year stems brown or yellow-brown, glabrous.

Leaves

9-21-foliolate;

petioles 2-11 cm.

alternate, sometimes leaves of elongate shoots reduced to spines and foliage leaves borne only on short shoots;

foliage leaves simple or 1-odd-pinnately compound;

petioles usually present.
Leaflet

blades thin and ± flexible;

surfaces abaxially rather dull, smooth, adaxially dull, somewhat glaucous;

terminal leaflet stalked, blade 2.9-8.4 × 1.2-4.8 cm, 1.8-3.2 times as long as wide;

lateral leaflet blades lance-ovate to ovate, 4-6-veined from base, base rounded to cordate, margins plane, toothed, each with 6-13 teeth 1-2(-3) mm tipped with spines to 1-2.4 × 0.1-0.2 mm, apex acute or broadly acuminate.

Spines

absent.

Inflorescences

racemose, dense, 30-70-flowered, 6-17 cm;

bracteoles membranous, apex acute, obtuse, or rounded.

terminal, usually racemes, rarely umbels or flowers solitary.
Flowers

anther filaments without distal pair of recurved lateral teeth.

3-merous, 3-8 mm;

bracteoles caducous, 3, scalelike;

sepals falling immediately after anthesis, 6, yellow;

petals 6, yellow, nectariferous;

stamens 6;

anthers dehiscing by valves;

pollen exine punctate;

ovary symmetrically club-shaped;

placentation subbasal;

style central.
Fruits

berries, spheric to cylindric-ovoid or ellipsoid, usually juicy, sometimes dry, at maturity.
Berries

blue, glaucous, oblong-ovoid or globose, 8-11 mm, juicy, solid.

Seeds

1-10, tan to red-brown or black;

aril absent.
Bud

scales (13-)20-44 mm, persistent.

Simple

leaves: blade narrowly elliptic, oblanceolate, or obovate, 1.2-7.5 cm.
Compound

leaves: rachis, when present, with or without swollen articulations;

leaflet blades lanceolate to orbiculate, margins entire, toothed, spinose, or spinose-lobed;

venation pinnate or leaflets 3-6-veined from base.
x

= 14.
2n

= 56.

Berberis nervosa

Berberis
Phenology Flowering winter–spring (Mar–Jun).
Habitat Open or shaded woods, often in rocky areas
Elevation 0-1800 m (0-5900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
from USDA
Almost worldwide
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Plants of Berberis nervosa are usually very low (commonly 0.1-0.3 m), but occasional plants may be considerably taller (to 2 m). One such population from north of Westport, California, has been separated as B. nervosa var. mendocinensis. Similar populations occur sporadically throughout the range of B. nervosa, so the form should not be recognized taxonomically.

Berberis nervosa is resistant to infection by Puccinia graminis.

The Skagit tribe used Berberis nervosa medicinally in a root preparation to treat venereal disease (D. E. Moermann 1986).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Species ca. 500 (22 in the flora).

Many species of Berberis are grown as ornamental shrubs. Some species harbor the black stem-rust of wheat (Puccinia graminis Persoon); the sale or transport of susceptible or untested species is illegal in the United States and Canada. Data on susceptibility of Berberis spp. to infection by Puccinia graminis was supplied by Dr. D. L. Long, U.S. Department of Agriculture (pers. comm.).

The berries of many species are edible and frequently are used for jam and jelly.

The genus Berberis as recognized below is divided into two genera, Berberis and Mahonia, by some authors (e.g., L. Abrams 1934). Species 1-5 below represent Berberis in the narrow sense (characterized by dimorphic stems, with elongate primary stems and short axillary shoots; leaves of primary stems modified as spines; foliage leaves simple; and inflorescences usually rather lax, with acuminate bracteoles and 1-20 flowers; most species susceptible to Puccinia). Species 13-22 represent the segregate genus Mahonia (with stems never regularly dimorphic; stem spines absent; leaves pinnately compound; and inflorescences dense, with rounded or obtuse [rarely acute] bracteoles and 25-70 flowers; never susceptible to Puccinia). Species 6-12, traditionally included in Mahonia when that genus is recognized (L. Abrams 1934), are actually intermediate, resembling Berberis proper in their dimorphic stems, inflorescence structure, and susceptibility to Puccinia, and Mahonia in their spineless stems and compound leaves. Species showing different combinations of the characteristics of the two groups are found in other parts of the world (J. W. McCain and J. F. Hennen 1982; R. V. Moran 1982), so these segregate genera do not seem to be natural. Mahonia is often recognized in horticultural works, but it is seldom recognized by botanists.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Stems spiny; leaves simple; plants deciduous or evergreen.
→ 2
1. Stems not spiny; leaves compound; plants evergreen.
→ 6
2. Plants evergreen; leaf blades thick and rigid, each margin with 2-4 teeth or shallow lobes, each tooth or lobe 1-3 mm, tipped with spine 1.2-1.6 × 0.2-0.3 mm; stems tomentose.
B. darwinii
2. Plants deciduous; leaf blades thin and flexible, margins entire or each with 3-30 teeth, each tooth 0-1 mm, tipped with bristle 0.2-1.4 × 0.1-0.2 mm; stems glabrous.
→ 3
3. Inflorescences of solitary flowers or umbellate; margins of leaf blade entire.
B. thunbergii
3. Inflorescences racemose; margins of leaf blade entire or toothed.
→ 4
4. Bark of 2d-year branches gray; each margin of leaf blade with (8-)16-30 teeth; racemes 10-20-flowered.
B. vulgaris
4. Bark of 2d-year branches brown, purple, or reddish; leaf blade entire or each margin with 3-12 teeth; racemes 3-15-flowered.
→ 5
5. Leaf blade oblanceolate or sometimes narrowly elliptic, apex rounded or rounded-obtuse; surfaces adaxially ± glaucous.
B. canadensis
5. Leaf blade narrowly elliptic, apex acute to obtuse or rounded; surfaces adaxially not glaucous, often shiny.
B. fendleri
6. Racemes loose (rather dense in B. harrisoniana), 1-11-flowered; bracteoles acuminate.
→ 7
6. Racemes dense, 25-70-flowered; bracteoles obtuse or acute.
→ 13
7. All leaves 3-foliolate; terminal leaflet sessile.
→ 8
7. Leaves 5-11-foliolate (sometimes a minority of leaves 3-foliolate); terminal leaflet stalked on most or all leaves.
→ 9
8. Terminal leaflet blade 0.9-2 cm wide; berries red.
B. trifoliolata
8. Terminal leaflet blade 2.2-3.2 cm wide; berries blue-black.
B. harrisoniana
9. Marginal spines of leaflet blade 0.4-1.2 × 0.1-0.15 mm.
→ 10
9. Marginal spines of leaflet blade 0.8-3 × 0.2-0.3 mm.
→ 11
10. Bracteoles (at least proximal ones) leathery, spine-tipped; berries white or red, somewhat glaucous, 9-16 mm, usually hollow; c Texas.
B. swaseyi
10. Bractoles usually membranous, seldom spine-tipped; berries yellowish red to red, not glaucous, 5-6 mm, solid; s California.
B. nevinii
11. Berries dry, inflated, 12-18 mm.
B. fremontii
11. Berries juicy, solid, 5-8 mm.
→ 12
12. Blade of terminal leaflet mostly 2-5 times as long as wide; berries purplish red.
B. haematocarpa
12. Blade of terminal leaflet mostly 1-2.5 times as long as wide; berries yellowish red.
B. higginsiae
13. Bud scales persistent, 11-44 mm; leaflet blades 4-6-veined from base; anther filaments unappendaged.
→ 14
13. Bud scales 2-8(-14) mm, deciduous; leaflet blades 1-3-veined from base (sometimes 1-5-veined in B. amplectens); distal end of each anther filament with pair of recurved teeth (status of this character in B. amplectens unknown).
→ 15
14. Shrubs 0.1-0.8(-2) m; teeth 6-13 per blade margin, 1-2(-3) mm, spines 0.1-0.2 mm thick; native, Pacific Coast states, B.C., and Idaho.
B. nervosa
14. Shrubs 1-2 m; teeth 2-7 per blade margin, 3-8 mm, spines 0.3-0.6 mm thick; locally naturalized, se United States.
B. bealei
15. Leaflet blades abaxially smooth and somewhat shiny (outer surface of cells of abaxial epidermis of leaf plane).
→ 16
15. Leaflet blades abaxially papillose and very dull (outer surface of cells of abaxial epidermis of leaf strongly bulging).
→ 17
16. Blade of terminal leaflet 1.3-1.9 times as long as wide; lateral leaflet blades elliptic to ovate or broadly lanceolate.
B. pinnata
16. Blade of terminal leaflet 1.7-2.5 times as long as wide; lateral leaflet blades lance-ovate or lance-elliptic.
B. aquifolium
17. Leaflet blades thin and flexible; teeth 6-24 per blade margin, 0.1-0.25 mm thick; plants 0.02-0.2(-0.6) m.
B. repens
17. Leaflet blades thick and rigid; teeth 2-15 per blade margin, 0.2-0.6 mm thick; plants 0.3-2 m (0.1-0.4 m in B. pumila).
→ 18
18. Leaflet blades adaxially glossy.
→ 19
18. Leaflet blades adaxially dull, ± glaucous.
→ 20
19. Teeth 6-12 per blade margin; n California and Oregon.
B. piperiana
19. Teeth 3-5 per blade margin; Arizona and New Mexico.
B. wilcoxii
20. Blade margins strongly crispate, each margin with 3-8 teeth.
B. dictyota
20. Blade margins plane to undulate or, if crispate, each margin with 9-15 teeth.
→ 21
21. Plants 0.2-1.2 m; each blade margin with 9-15 teeth.
B. amplectens
21. Plants 0.1-0.4 m; each blade margin with 2-10 teeth.
B. pumila
Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3. Author: Alan T. Whittemore.
Parent taxa Berberidaceae > Berberis Berberidaceae
Sibling taxa
B. amplectens, B. aquifolium, B. bealei, B. canadensis, B. darwinii, B. dictyota, B. fendleri, B. fremontii, B. haematocarpa, B. harrisoniana, B. higginsiae, B. nevinii, B. pinnata, B. piperiana, B. pumila, B. repens, B. swaseyi, B. thunbergii, B. trifoliolata, B. vulgaris, B. wilcoxii
Subordinate taxa
B. amplectens, B. aquifolium, B. bealei, B. canadensis, B. darwinii, B. dictyota, B. fendleri, B. fremontii, B. haematocarpa, B. harrisoniana, B. higginsiae, B. nervosa, B. nevinii, B. pinnata, B. piperiana, B. pumila, B. repens, B. swaseyi, B. thunbergii, B. trifoliolata, B. vulgaris, B. wilcoxii
Synonyms B. nervosa var. mendocinensis, Mahonia nervosa, Mahonia nervosa var. mendocinensis Mahonia, Odostemon
Name authority Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept., 219. (1814) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 330. 175: Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 153. (1754)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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