Berberis harrisoniana

Berberis harrisoniana

Critically Imperiled  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Berberidaceae
Genus: Berberis
Species: B. harrisoniana
Binomial name
Berberis harrisoniana
Kearney & Peebles

Berberis harrisoniana[1] (syn: Mahonia harrisoniana) is a rare species of flowering plant in the barberry family, Berberidaceae. It is known by the common names Kofa barberry, Kofa Mountain barberry, Harrison's barberry, and red barberry.[2]

It native to the southwestern United States, where it occurs in the Sonoran Colorado Desert in far eastern San Bernardino County in southeastern California and in the Sonoran Desert region in southwestern Arizona (Yuma, La Paz, Pima and Maricopa Counties).[3]

It occurs in shaded, rocky canyons in the mountains, at an elevation of approximately 800-1000 m.[4][5]

Description

This plant is a rounded shrub usually growing up to 1.5 meters tall, sometimes reaching 2 meters. The leaves are trifoliate, with three spine-tipped leaflets each a few centimeters long. The inflorescence is a dense cluster of up to 11 flowers. Each bright yellow flower has 9 sepals. The fruit is a juicy blue-black berry about half a centimeter wide.[2]

The compound leaves place this species in the group sometimes segregated as the genus Mahonia.[4][6][7]

References

  1. ↑ Kearney, T. H. & R. H. Peebles. (1939). Journal of the Washington Academy of Science 29: 477. 1939.
  2. 1 2 Berberis harrisoniana. Plant Abstracts. Arizona Game and Fish Department.
  3. ↑ BONAP (Biota of North America Program) Berberis harrisoniana
  4. 1 2 Flora of North America, vol 3
  5. ↑ Laferriere, J. E. 1992. Berberidaceae, Barberry Family. Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science. 26:2-4.
  6. ↑ Loconte, H. & J. R. Estes. 1989. Phylogenetic systematics of Berberidaceae and Ranunculales (Magnoliidae). Systematic Botany 14:565-579.
  7. ↑ Marroquín, J. S. & J. E. Laferrière. 1997. Transfer of specific and infraspecific taxa from Mahonia to Berberis. Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science. 30(1):53-55.
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