BERBERIDACEAE -- Barberry Family - New Mexico Flores

Scientific Name:
Berberis repens
Size:
10 - 20 cm
BERBERIDACEAE -- Barberry Family
Description:
Synonym: Mahonia repens.
Perennial with woody, trailing to ascending
stems without spines. Leaves alternate, oddpinnate
with 3 - 7 ovate to elliptic leaflets 1 - 7
cm long, 1 - 5 cm wide, edges with 12 - 40
spine-tipped teeth; upper leaf surface bluish to
dull green, gray-green below. Flowers perfect,
on short stalks in dense, many-flowered
clusters. Sepals 6, yellow, the outer three 2 - 3
mm long, the inner three 5 - 8 mm long. Petals
6, yellow, in 2 series. Stamens 6. Fruit a waxy
blue berry.
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Common Name:
Creeping Mahonia, Oregon grape
Color:
Yellow flowers, blue berries
Notes:
Thomas Nuttall named this plant for his friend
and colleague Bernard MacMahon (1755-1816),
an Irish immigrant who operated a plant nursery
in Philadelphia and helped introduce decorative
gardening to the United States. Creeping
mahonia leaves are not deciduous. The plants
are very colorful in the fall when the leaves turn
purplish or red and the berries turn very blue.
Creeping mahonia blooms from April into June
between 6500 and 10000 ft.
New Mexico Native