Berberis fremontii        (syn. B. higginsiae, Mahonia fremontii)            Berberidaceae

Fremont Barberry, Fremont Mahonia, Fremont Holly-grape, Utah holly               BER-ber-is FREE-mont-ee-eye

• Broadleaf evergreen shrub, usually 5-10 ft (1.3-3 m) tall, but may reach 15 ft (4.5 m).   Leaves alternate, pinnately compound, crowded on short lateral stems, 3–6 cm long, 3–7(9) leaflets, each leaflet wavy, thick and rigid, generally folded along midrib, may or may no be lobed, base truncate to wedge-shaped, tip generally acute, margin spine-tipped with 3-8 teeth, each 2-3 mm long, dull gray-green.  Flowers yellow, 6-petaled, in 5 cm clusters of 8-12 flowers.  Fruit yellowish or purplish red to dark purple, ovoid to spherical, 6-15 mm wide.
• Sun, good drainage.
• Hardy to USDA Zone 5      Native to the southwest; Utah, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Mexico.  Mostly on slopes and flats in desert grassland and pinyon-juniper woodland.  Intergrades with B. haematocarpa, especially in the Mojave Desert.
• fremontii:  after Gen. John Charles Fremont (1813-1890).  He lead two expeditions into California, becoming the first botanical collector in the Sierra Nevada.  He was a solider, explorer, the first U.S. Senator from California, ran unsuccessfully for President, and was governor of the Arizona Territory.