Three-pronged spines and drooping yellow flower bunches whose stamens snap inwards when touched by an insect
Barberry.
Nature · Shrubs
Barberry
Native or archaeophyte · flowers May–Jun · hedgerows, scrub and coppice
Berberis vulgaris — Berberidaceae
A sharply spiny deciduous shrub of hedgerows and scrub, with drooping bunches of lemon-yellow flowers whose stamens spring inwards when an insect touches them, and acid red berries. It is the alternate host of wheat black stem rust, which led to campaigns to grub it out in some countries. Its status in Britain, native or ancient introduction, is uncertain.
How to spot them
- ▸Sharp three-pronged spines at each node, with small oval, bristle-toothed leaves in tufts
- ▸Drooping bunches of small lemon-yellow flowers in May and June
- ▸Touch-sensitive stamens that snap inwards when an insect touches them, dabbing pollen on it
- ▸Oblong, glossy red berries in autumn, very acid
- ▸Look-alikes: garden barberries (e.g. Berberis darwinii, Berberis thunbergii) are neophytes with orange flowers or purple leaves; also hawthorn, which has single thorns and lobed leaves
How to know it
As the secondary host of Puccinia graminis, the fungus causing black stem rust of wheat, it was eradicated in some countries after 1865
Barberry.
Its origin in Britain is doubtful: it may be native or an archaeophyte, and it was planted for hedging because of its spines
Barberry (BSBI).
Sharp red acid berries were used for jam and candied sweets, though unripe fruits contain the alkaloid berberine
Barberry.
Now declining in Britain, this spiny hedge shrub was for centuries planted as a barrier
Barberry (BSBI change index -0.61).
Quick-fire facts
- •Berberis vulgaris, family Berberidaceae; berberine, an alkaloid, is named after the genus
- •BSBI: 'might either be a native or an archaeophyte' in Britain; a deliberately planted introduction in Ireland
- •Hedgerows, scrub banks, coppice woodland and waste ground; historically planted for hedging because of its spines
- •Flowers in May and June in drooping bunches; the stamens are touch-sensitive and move inwards on contact to deposit pollen
- •Secondary host of Puccinia graminis, black stem rust of wheat, recognised in 1865 and prompting eradication in some countries; BSBI notes barberry is not necessary to the rust's life cycle in England
- •EDIBLE WITH CAUTION: ripe berries are very acid, edible and high in vitamin C, used for jam and sweets; unripe fruit is poisonous, and the plant contains berberine
- •Declining in Britain (BSBI change index -0.61); now very rare in Ireland
Drill it — 6 cards
1 / 6new card
Sources
- Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland — Berberis vulgaris L. (Barberry)