Berberis pinnata
California barberry, California Oregon-grape, shiny leaf mahonia
usually monomorphic, seldom with short axillary shoots.
of 2d-year stems grayish brown, glabrous.
(3-)5-13-foliolate;
petioles 0.5-4.5(-7.5) cm.
blades thin and ± rigid or flexible;
surfaces abaxially glossy, smooth, adaxially glossy, green;
terminal leaflet stalked, blade 2.6-6.2 × 2-4.5 cm, 1.3-1.9 times as long as wide;
lateral leaflet blades elliptic to ovate or broadly lanceolate, 1(-3)-veined from base, base broadly obtuse, truncate, or weakly cordate, margins plane to crispate, toothed, each with 5-22 teeth 0-2 mm tipped with spines to 1-3 × 0.1-0.3 mm, apex acute to rounded-obtuse.
absent.
racemose, dense, 25-50-flowered, 2-9 cm;
bracteoles membranous, apex rounded to broadly acute, sometimes apiculate.
blue, glaucous, oblong-ovoid to subspheric, 6-7 mm, juicy, solid.
scales 3-7 mm, deciduous.
filaments with distal pair of recurved lateral teeth.
Berberis pinnata
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
Berberis pinnata is very similar to B. aquifolium, and the two are sometimes difficult to separate. Some authors have used the spacing of the lateral leaflets (said to be contiguous or imbricate in B. pinnata and remote in B. aquifolium) to separate them, but the leaflets are often remote in both species and may be contiguous in B. aquifolium.
Berberis pinnata is resistant to infection by Puccinia graminis.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Margins of leaf blade undulate or crispate, marginal spines to 1.2-3 × 0.2-0.3 mm; shrubs 0.3-1.6 m, self-supporting. | subsp. pinnata |
1. Margins of leaf blade plane or weakly undulate, marginal spines to 1-1.6 × 0.1- 0.2 mm; shrubs 1-7 m, self-supporting or clambering over surrounding vegetation. | subsp. insularis |
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
