Purple Japanese Barberry

Description: Japanese barberry (Chinese: 日本小檗) is a species of Berberis, native to Japan and eastern Asia, though widely naturalized in China and in North America. It is a dense, deciduous, spiny shrub which grows 0.6 to 2.5 m (2 to 8 ft) high. It has deeply grooved, brown, spiny branches with a single (occasionally tridentine) spine (actually a highly modified leaf) at each shoot node. The leaves are green to blue-green (reddish or purple in some horticultural variants), very small, spatula to oval shaped, 12–24 mm long and 3–15 mm broad; they are produced in clusters of 2-6 on a dwarf shoot in the axil of each spine. The flowers are pale yellow, 5–8 mm diameter, produced in drooping 1-1.5 cm long umbrella-shaped clusters of 2–5; flowering is from mid spring to early summer. The edible fruit is a glossy bright red to orange-red, ovoid berry 7–10 mm long and 4–7 mm broad, containing a single seed. They mature during late summer and fall and persist through the winter.

Locations in Campus: Picture taken next to Frist Center.

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