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Introduction
This lovely native evergreen shrub has thick dark green holly-like foliage on stems to about six feet tall. The buds begin to form in winter and open in early spring with bright clusters of yellow flowers. These are followed by deep blue ornamental fruits that mother robins feed to their young in my garden. The yellow pigment derived from the roots of this plant was used as a dye by First Nations peoples of British Columbia.
Note Author: Gary Lewis, Phoenix Perennials
Species Information
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expanded illustration for this species.
General: Evergreen shrub from a rhizome; stems branched, stoloniferous to stiffly erect, 0.5-2.5 (4.5) m tall; bark and wood yellowish.
Leaves: Evergreen, hollylike, alternate, pinnate; leaflets usually 5-11, pinnately nerved, more than twice as long as broad, mostly with 12-29 prominent spiny teeth, shiny above but less so beneath.
Flowers: Inflorescence of clustered racemes 3-8 cm long; flowers yellow, the segments in 6's.
Fruits: Clustered berries 7-14 mm in diameter, blue, glaucous, with a few large seeds, edible.
1. Leaflets usually 9-19, palmately nerved.....................................M. nervosa
1. Leaflets usually 3-11, pinnately nerved
2. Leaves more than twice as long as broad, mostly with 12-29 prominent spiny teeth; leaflets 5-11; plants 0.5-4.5 m tall.......................M. aquifolium
2. Leaves less than twice as long as broad, with 15-43 inconspicuous, spiny teeth; leaflets 3-7; plant 0.1--.6 m tall.........................M. repens
Habitat / Range
Mesic to dry open or closed forests in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; common in S BC; E to AB and S to ID and OR.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
