Berberis vulgaris L.
common barberry
Berberidaceae (Barberry family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
common barberry
Berberidaceae (Barberry family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Clump-forming shrub; stems erect, freely branched, 0.5-2.5 m tall; branches angled, grey or yellowish-grey.
Leaves:
Deciduous, appearing simple, in fascicles in axils of branched spines, egg-shaped, 1-6 cm long, coarsely spine-toothed, prominently veined beneath.
Flowers:
Inflorescence of hanging or arching racemes; racemes 2-6 cm long, arising in the leaf axils; petals yellow, entire.
Fruits:
Oblong berries, 1 cm long, red or purple.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Habitat and Range
Mesic to dry disturbed areas in the lowland and steppe zones; infrequent in SW and SC BC; introduced from Eurasia.Status Information
Similar Species
This spiny shrub may be mistaken in BC for Japanese barberry (Berberis thumbergii). Several key features separate the two, however. The leaves on Japanese barberry are entire and untoothed, while the leaves on common barberry are coarsely spine-toothed; the flowers of Japanese barberry are solitary flowers or umbellate with up to 5 flowers while the flowers of common barberry are racemose. with 10-20 flowers per raceme (Flora North America 2011).
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