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Berberis bergmanniae Schneid.

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Berberis bergmanniae' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/berberis/berberis-bergmanniae/). Accessed 2023-05-30.

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

bloom
Bluish or greyish waxy substance on leaves or fruits.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
glaucous
Grey-blue often from superficial layer of wax (bloom).
style
Generally an elongated structure arising from the ovary bearing the stigma at its tip.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Berberis bergmanniae' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/berberis/berberis-bergmanniae/). Accessed 2023-05-30.

An evergreen shrub up to 10 ft high, of dense bushy habit; young shoots yellowish grey, angular, glabrous; spines three-pronged, each prong 1⁄2 to 11⁄8 in. long. Leaves in clusters of up to five, obovate to oval, spiny toothed, tapering at the base to a very short stalk, of thick leathery texture, 11⁄2 to 2 in. long. Flowers crowded as many as fifteen together in a cluster, each on a slender stalk 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long, yellow. Fruit oval, 1⁄3 in. long, black, covered with a blue-white bloom, the stalk reddish; style persisting at the top.

Native of W. China; introduced by Wilson in 1908. It has been compared with B. pruinosa especially in the vividly blue-white fruits, but that species has round, not angular, young shoots and its leaves are glaucous beneath. Related more nearly to B. julianae.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

Although this species was at one time thought to be near to B. pruinosa (which, incidentally, does not always have the leaves glaucous beneath), it is not related to it, nor indeed, as was suggested, to B. julianae.

B × wintonensis Ahrendt

A hybrid, with the preceding species as seed parent, which arose in the nurseries of Messrs Hillier, Winchester, about 1935. It is a hardy, compact evergreen, with narrower leaves than in the parent, flowering freely in February. The identity of the pollen parent is not known.

var. acanthophylla Schneid

As seen growing at Kew this is a very striking barberry. The largest leaves are almost holly-like in appearance on account of the two to six large, conspicuous, triangular teeth on each margin; they are up to 2 in. long by {3/4} in. wide. I should have thought it distinct enough to have deserved a specific name, but Dr Schneider observes that the red-stalked, blue-black fruits with two seeds closely resemble those of the type.

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