Flora of New Zealand Series

barberry

Glabrous, evergreen or semi-deciduous shrub to c. 7 m high. Shoots terete, grey or yellowish grey; reproductive shoots often pendent. Spines to 2.3 cm long, sometimes single, sometimes 3-partite. Lvs with short petiole to 5 mm long. Lamina mostly 2.5-7.5 × 1-2.5 cm, oblanceolate, elliptic to obovate and often very variable on one plant, entire or spiny serrate (often remotely so), ± shining above and often turning reddish in autumn, reticulate, subcoriaceous, sometimes almost membranous in shadier and moister habitats; base attenuate; apex spiny. Fls foetid, arranged in simple or compound racemes to 6 cm long; bracts 2-3 mm long, lanceolate-acuminate; bracteoles sometimes c. 1/2 way along pedicel, otherwise near base, < bracts. Pedicels 0.6-1.5 mm long. Perianth segments yellow, sometimes the outer red-tinged, 4-7 mm long; outer sepals shorter; inner sepals broadly obovate and petals slightly emarginate, with 2 prominent basal oblong nectaries. Stamens 3-4 mm long. Ovules 4. Berry 7-12 mm long, broadly ellipsoid to subglobose, reddish black, strongly whitish pruinose; juice dark red; fruiting style c. 1 mm long.

N.: throughout in modified lowland areas; S.: as far S. as Canterbury and Westland.

W. Himalaya 1916

Forest margins, scrub and open secondary forest, in plantations and around old homesteads.

FL Oct-Nov.

Barberry is very commonly cultivated as a hedge in the lowland parts of N.Z. except for colder parts of the South Id. The plants fr. abundantly and the large branches of glaucous-white frs are a characteristic sight on many farms in autumn. In N.Z. barberry or Himalayan barberry has usually been called B. vulgaris although this name should be applied to a very different sp. in another section of the genus. Thus, the short description and diagram in Allan (1940) really refer to B. glaucocarpa. B. glaucocarpa has also occasionally been called B. aristata in N.Z.; this is a related Himalayan sp.