Mahonia bealei (Fortune) Carrière

Leather Leaf Mahonia; Leather Leaf Holly Grape; Beale's Oregon Grape

Shrub

Perennial

Vascular

Leather Leaf Mahonia is a non-native shrub in the Barberry family (Berberidaceae). A native of China, it is widely cultivated in the United States. In Alabama it can be found as an escape statewide. Leather Leaf Mahonia occurs on vacant lots, in disturbed woodlands, and in floodplain forest. It is an evergreen shrub to six feet in height. There are usually several stems per clump. The inner bark is bright yellow. The leaves are pinnately compound with five to nine leaflets. The leaves are very think and dark green. The leaflets have three to nine teeth, each with a large spine along their margins. Small yellow flowers are produced in dense racemes in the winter. These are followed by dark blue berries with a waxy bloom. --A. Diamond

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Not Native

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