The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Berberis wilsonae

Etymology

Berberis: From the Arabic name berberys

Family

Berberidaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Exotic

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Habitat

Waste places near cultivation

Features

Deciduous

shrub to about 2 m high. leaves are sessile

Sessile:
Attached by the base without a stalk or stem.

Click thumbnails to enlarge

and up to 3 x 1 cm, 3-partite spines held just below the leaves. The leaves can be green to red in exposed plants. pale yellow flowers are held in dense racemes of 10-20. Fruit starts translucent but ripens to deep red 5-9 mm diameter with grey bloom.

Similar Taxa

Taxa:
Taxonomic groups. Used to refer to a group at any level e.g., genus, species or subspecies.

Similar in general appearance to B. thunbergii, but can be distinguished by the 3-partite spines. Also similar to B. vulgaris but lacks the obvious leaf veination and serrulate

leaf margins.

Flowering

December, January, February

Flower Colours

Yellow

Fruiting

June, July, August

Year Naturalised

naturalised:
Referring to plants that have escaped from cultivation (including gardens or forest plantations) and can now reproduce in the wild (without human assistance)

1983

Origin

S.W. China, upper Burma

This page last updated on 18 Jan 2010