Mahonia haematocarpa (Wooton) Fedde

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Mahonia haematocarpa' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/mahonia/mahonia-haematocarpa/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

Genus

Synonyms

  • Berberis haematocarpa Wooton

Glossary

apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
glaucous
Grey-blue often from superficial layer of wax (bloom).
globose
globularSpherical or globe-shaped.
lanceolate
Lance-shaped; broadest in middle tapering to point.
leaflet
Leaf-like segment of a compound leaf.
ovate
Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
imparipinnate
Odd-pinnate; (of a compound leaf) with a central rachis and an uneven number of leaflets due to the presence of a terminal leaflet. (Cf. paripinnate.)

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Mahonia haematocarpa' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/mahonia/mahonia-haematocarpa/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

An evergreen shrub from 6 to 12 ft high in the wild; young shoots glabrous, eventually grey. Leaves pinnate, 112 to 4 in. long, made up of three to nine leaflets. Leaflets oval, ovate, or lanceolate, with three to five spine-tipped teeth at each side and a slender spine-tipped apex, 12 to 134 in. long, 14 to 58 in. wide, terminal leaflet stalked, longer and relatively narrower than the lateral ones, of a conspicuous glaucous hue and quite glabrous. Flowers pale yellow, 14 in. wide, produced in slender-stalked racemes 1 to 112 in. long, carrying about six flowers. Fruits juicy, blood-red, globose, 14 to 13 in. wide.

Native of western N. America in the States of New Mexico, Colorado, W. Texas, and California; introduced to Kew in 1916. In general appearance this species bears a strong resemblance to M. fremontii. It is, nevertheless, very distinct from that species in its rich red fruits. As sunny a position as possible should be allotted to it. It seems disinclined to branch and makes slender erect shoots densely furnished with leaves. The fruits are used for making jam in its native country, but our climate is doubtless too dull for it to bear them freely enough to be of any value in that respect here.

M. swaseyi (Buckland) Fedde, is a species from Texas also with red fruits and closely related to the foregoing. It is distinguished by having broadly ovate bracts up to 13 in. long (see also M. nevinii).