Japanese Barberry                BER-ber-is thun-BER-jee-a

• Deciduous shrub, 3-6+ ft (0.9-1.8 m), very dense, rounded form; thorny; single spines, usually 13-15 mm long.  Stems angled or grooved, spines (throns) single , not parted, about 1 cm or more.  Leaves alternate, but appear in clusters, simple, obovate to spatulate-oblong, small, 1.3-3.2 cm long, variable in size, narrow base, margin entire.  Flowers yellowish, about 1 cm wide, on a long pedicel.  Fruit small (8 mm), red, ellipsoid, persisting into winter.
• Sun to part shade, drought tolerant, very adaptable, but does not withstand extremely moist conditions.
• Many cultivars, including:
• Green, standard size, and popular dwarf forms such as:
• Lustre Green^TM (‘Anderson’)
• ‘Kobold’
• Berberis Emerald Carousel^TM grows to about 5 ft (1.5 m), it is from a cross between B. thunbergii and B. koreana
• Yellowish-green ("golden") types include:
• ‘Aurea’
• Bonanza Gold^TM
• Sunsation^TM (‘Monry’)
• Variegated forms:
• ‘Variegata’
• ‘Silver Beauty’ (‘Argenteo-marginata’).
• Purple or red leaf forms are classified as Berberis thunbergii var. atropurpurea .
• Hardy to USDA Zone 4     Native to Japan.
• Oregon State Univ. campus: south side of parking lot south of Bates, many on campus.