Flora of New Zealand Series

Oregon grape

Shrub 0.5-1-(2) m high, many-stemmed and stoloniferous. Lvs to c. 25 cm long, composed of 3-7 pairs of sessile (excluding the terminal) leaflets, without basal pair of stipule-like leaflets; petiole (0)-1-4 cm long, dark red. Most leaflets 5-9.5 × 2.5-5 cm, ovate or elliptic-ovate, glossy above, prominently reticulate; margins undulate and spinose-dentate; apex spiny. Scales at base of fascicled racemes 5-10 mm long, membranous, brown. Racemes eventually to 6 or 7 cm long. Bracts broadly ovate, much < pedicels at anthesis. Perianth segments to 7 mm long, ovate to obovate, imbricate; segments of innermost whorl shorter and emarginate. Stamens included; filaments with 2 teeth. Stigma sessile. Berry c. 10 mm diam., globose, blue-black, pruinose.

N.: occasional, particularly in the Wellington area; S.: fairly common but scattered throughout, particularly Canterbury and Otago. Roadsides, semi-shade by plantation margins or beneath deciduous trees.

British Columbia to Oregon 1958

FL Sep-Nov.

Oregon grape was introduced to N.Z. in the early days of European settlement and is often found around old gardens and churchyards, where it may persist long after the area has been abandoned.