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Berberis diaphana Maxim.

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Berberis diaphana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/berberis/berberis-diaphana/). Accessed 2026-05-16.

Family

  • Berberidaceae

Genus

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
ovoid
Egg-shaped solid.
raceme
Unbranched inflorescence with flowers produced laterally usually with a pedicel. racemose In form of raceme.
reticulate
Arranged in a net-like manner.
style
Generally an elongated structure arising from the ovary bearing the stigma at its tip.
venation
Pattern of veins (nerves) especially in a leaf.

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 diaphana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/berberis/berberis-diaphana/). Accessed 2026-05-16.

A deciduous shrub 2 to 3 ft high with glabrous stems, green when young, yellowish when mature, armed with stout three-pronged spines 1⁄2 to 1 in. long. Leaves 2⁄3 to 1 in. long, obovate to almost oblong, spiny-toothed, grey-green above with a prominent reticulate venation, grey beneath. Flowers 1⁄2 in. across, one to five in a cluster or condensed raceme. Berries bright red, about 1⁄2 in. long, ovoid, with a short style and containing six to ten seeds. Bot. Mag., t. 8224.

Native of N.W. China. It is a decorative species, colouring well in the autumn. It was introduced to Kew at the end of the last century from the St Petersburg Botanic Garden, to which seed had been sent from Kansu by the Russian explorer Przewalski.

B aemulans Schneid

This species is very near to B. diaphana, but grows to 6 ft high and has red or purplish-red young shoots. At Kew it grows very vigorously, and the long wand-like stems are very decorative in autumn after the leaves have fallen. Native of W. China, introduced by Wilson in 1908. Bot. Mag., n.s., t. 179.

B circumserrata Schneid

This species was at first considered by Schneider to be a variety of B. diaphana, which it much resembles except in the leaves, which are more broadly rounded, and closely edged all round with slender bristle-like teeth. It was probably first introduced by Purdom, who collected it in the Tapai Shan, Shensi, in 1910–11.

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