Author | (Fortune) Carriere | |
Distribution | So far as is documented, lower Piedmont and upper Coastal Plain. However, there are likely many more counties where it has escaped and not been collected.
Native of China; in N.A. found in AL, GA, NC, VA. | |
Abundance | Rare. Plants usually occur in small numbers. | |
Habitat | Moist to seasonally wet, disturbed woodlands near creeks. Though plants tend to occur within woodlands in shade, there do not seem to be cases in NC of this being a problem weed in natural forests. | |
Phenology | Flowering February-March, fruiting March-April. | |
Identification | Mahonia bealei is easy to identify, due to its erect thick stem with horizontal evergreen, compound leaves 1-1.5 feet long and which are divided into 2-4 pairs of thick leaflets (plus a terminal one). Leaflets have several spine-tipped lobes and look quite like an evergreen holly (Ilex). Fruits are ellipsoid, pale gray-green when young and dark blue when ripe. | |
Taxonomic Comments | Also treated as Berberis bealei.
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Other Common Name(s) | Oregon Grape | |
State Rank | SE | |
Global Rank | GNR | |
State Status | | |
US Status | | |
USACE-agcp | | |
USACE-emp | | |