Kingdom Plantae Family Berberidaceae Scientific name Mahonia japonica Rank Species | Order Ranunculales Genus Mahonia Higher classification Barberry | |
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Similar Barberry, Osmanthus heterophyllus, Mahonia bealei, Mahonia fortunei, Berberidaceae | ||
Mahonia japonica
Mahonia japonica is a species of flowering plant in the family Berberidaceae, native to Taiwan. Despite the name, it is not native to Japan though it has been known in cultivation there for centuries.
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Description
It is an evergreen shrub growing to 2 m (7 ft) tall by 3 m (10 ft) wide. The foliage is pinnate, glossy dark green above, paler beneath, and sharply toothed. Each leaf usually has 6–8 pairs of leaflets together with a single terminal leaflet. The plant will produce new shoots regularly from the base, so that it is clothed in foliage at all levels.
The small scented yellow flowers are borne from autumn through winter into spring. The inflorescences are 25 cm or more long, at first arching and then pendant. Dark or black fruits develop in spring and summer.
Cultivation
The plant is much grown as an ornamental shrub, and for use in landscapes. It is of value for its bold foliage, flowers and flowering season, and as a groundcover landscape shrub. Its spiny foliage, like that of the closely related berberis, invite use in security hedging.
Several cultivars and hybrids have been developed, of which the following have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:-
Mahonia bealei, native to mainland China and also widely cultivated, is sometimes treated as a separate species, and sometimes as a cultivar of this species, under the name Mahonia japonica. Its most obvious differences from M. japonica are in shorter racemes and wider leaflets.