Oregon Grape
Mahonia aquilifolium
General: Erect, rhizomatous, evergreen, stiff-branched shrub, to 60 cm tall; leaves like holly; bark and wood yellowish.
Leaves: Clustered, long, alternate, turning reddish or purplish in winter, with 5-9 leaflets, glossy above and less so beneath; each leaflet with one central vein (vs. 3 in m. nervosa) , with several prominent spiny teeth (resembling English Holly).
Flowers: Bright yellow, flower parts in 6s; many-flowered erect clusters to 20 cm long.
Fruits: Blue berries about 1 cm across with few large seeds and a whitish bloom, in elongated clusters, edible.
Ecology: Dry to fairly moist, open to closed forests at low to middle elevations.
Notes: The Oregon-grapes are also known as Berberis spp. (e.g. Berberis nervosa)
Source: Pojar's Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast, 1994
