Berberis aquifolium

Mountain grape

Family: Berberidaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Mountain grape is a native shrub found in various California bioregions in diverse habitats at elevations ranging from low to moderate heights. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces yellow flowers in dense clusters with distinctive serrated leaflets. Growing 0.1 to 2 meters tall with spreading to erect stems, it forms a robust and architectural shrub with woody branching. Its compound leaves have 5 to 9 leaflets, each 2 to 7.5 centimeters long with serrated edges and small spines along the margins, creating a textured and intricate foliage. The fruit is a glaucous blue to purple ovoid berry approximately 4 to 7 millimeters in diameter.

California counties: Humboldt, San Diego, Trinity, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Madera, San Bernardino, Glenn, Del Norte, Siskiyou, Butte, Nevada, Monterey, Napa, Lassen, Shasta, Mendocino, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, El Dorado, Lake, Kern

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.