Mahonia aquifolium
Berberidaceae
February to April
The garden plant is found throughout the country.
The naturalised escape is also widely distributed, but
is less common in the far Southwest, the Southeast
and the North.
See the BSBI distribution map for Oregon-grape
It is a well established naturalised escape found in woods,
hedges, brownfield sites and by country paths and roads.
It is a neophyte, introduced from the US in the 1820s, and
known in the wild since the the 1870s.
Oregon-grape is an evergreen, stoloniferous shrub,
growing up to 1.5m.
The flowers are in clusters.
Flowers are bright yellow and made up of a whorled
perianth segments. The outer 2 whorls (3 segments
each) are sepaloid and the inner whorls, petaloid.
There are 6 yellow stamens with yellow anthers.
The ovary is hypogynous and bottle-shaped. The style is
short and the stigma capitate.
The fruits are berries which develop in spring and change
from green to purple black.
The foliage is pinnate, glossy dark green above, paler
beneath and sharply toothed.
Each leaf has six to eight pairs of leaflets with a
single terminal leaflet. Leaves are mainly green but
some are shades of red.
The leaves are dark green with prickles, resembling
holly, and may turn bronze in winter.
Previous page: Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage
Next page: Photinia 'Red Robin'
Clusters of flowers - bronzed leaves
Lancaster brownfield site
On rough ground
Closer view of cluster
Expanded view of a cluster,
West Dorset
Close-up of single capitate stigma
and yellow anthers (see Japanese
Oregon-grape for better pictures)
Yellow perianth segments in 2 whorls,
green flower bud scales
Immature berrries
Close-up of young berries
New bronze, toothed, holly-shaped
leaves
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