Oregon Grape--Species Mahonia

Oregon Grape," says Botanist Underhill, "is rather like the prophet—unsung in his own country." Common in this area, it is often overlooked these days, but not so among the Indians and colonists, and it appeared in all the pharmacopoeias until the late 1880’s. The Scottish botanist David Douglas, who roamed around here in the 1830's, identified it very quickly as a fine ornamental shrub.
There are more than 100 species of Mahonia, and since there are some 500 species of Berberis, taxonomists finally decided to move it into its own genus - Mahonias. However, many seed catalogs still classify it under Berberis (Barberry).

It's difficult to mistake this striking evergreen plant. The flowers are small, bright yellow, with six petals, nine sepals, six stamens, in 1-3 inch racemes in dense clusters. Leaves are from 4 to 6 inches long. They are dark green and lustrous in spring and summer, turning to bronze, gold, crimson and purple in fall.

Here's a sample from an early morning walk today in Maltby.