Oregon-grape - Mahonia aquifolium

Description

Stoloniferous shrub to 1 metre, with a stout, scarcely branched stem. Leaves deep shiny green spine edged. Flowers yellow in clustered terminal racemes, fragrant. Berry rounded, black.

Similar Species

Other Mahonia species and hybrids are grown in gardens

Identification difficulty
Habitat

Wooded areas and hedgebanks, usually in shade.

When to see it

March to May.

Life History

Evergreen. Probably originally established in the wild from garden escapes.

UK Status

A naturalised plant, found fairly frequently in central and eastern Britain.

VC55 Status

Fairly frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 82 of the 617 tetrads.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Oregon-grape
Species group:
Trees, Shrubs & Climbers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Ranunculales
Family:
Berberidaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
50
First record:
03/05/2007 (Dave Wood)
Last record:
02/03/2024 (Charity, Kenneth)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

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