''Berberis repens'' commonly known as creeping mahonia, creeping Oregon grape, or creeping barberry, is a species of ''

Berberis ''Berberis'' (), commonly known as barberry, is a large genus of deciduous and evergreen shrubs from tall, found throughout Temperateness, temperate and subtropical regions of the world (apart from Australia). Species diversity is greatest in S ...

'' native to most of the western United States and two western provinces of Canada. It has found use as a xeric ornamental plant and has escaped from cultivation in areas beyond its native range.

Description

''Berberis repens'' is an extremely short shrub, usually just 2–20 centimeters tall, very occasionally reaching 60 centimeters. ''Berberis repens'' has conspicuous matte blue berries. The yellow flowers appear in the middle of spring, and the blue berries in early summer. Although it is evergreen, in fall the leaves turn bronze. The plant is found at elevations from to .

Taxonomy

Some botanists place ''Berberis repens'', and a significant portion of the barberry genus ''

'', in the genus ''

Mahonia ''Mahonia'' is a genus of approximately 70 species of evergreen shrubs and, rarely, small trees in the family Berberidaceae, native to eastern Asia, the Himalaya, North and Central America. They are closely related to the genus ''Berberis'' and ...

''. However, as of 2023 most botanical sources agree that it is properly placed in ''Berberis''.Flora of North America vol 3.
/ref> In this case, the scientific name may be given as ''Berberis repens''. Additionally, some botanists treat the plant as a subspecies of Oregon-grape holly (''Berberis aquifolium''), in which case the scientific name ''Berberis aquifolium'' var. ''repens'' is applied.

Names

''Berberis repens'' is commonly known as "creeping mahonia", "creeping barberry", and "creeping Oregon grape".Neil L. Jennings

Distribution and habitat

It is native to the botanical continent of

Northern America Northern America is the northernmost subregion of North America. The boundaries may be drawn slightly differently. In one definition, it lies directly north of Middle America (including the Caribbean and Central America).Gonzalez, Joseph. 20 ...

. In Canada its range is the southern parts of the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. In the United States it is found throughout the west from Washington (state) to California and eastwards to Montana to New Mexico including all the states between. East of the Rocky Mountains it is also found in the US states of Texas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Minnesota. It has also been found as an introduced species in Ontario in Canada and Hungary in the European Union. It is widespread, and found at low to mid elevation on dry plateaus, in forests and on foothills.

Uses

The berries are edible but are considered bitter, and used to make jellies. The

Tolowa The Tolowa people or Taa-laa-wa Dee-ni’ are a Native American people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethno-linguistic group. Two rancherias (Smith River and Elk Valley) still reside in their traditional territory in northwestern California. Tho ...

and

Karok The Karuk people are an indigenous people of California, and the Karuk Tribe is one of the largest tribes in California. Karuks are also enrolled in two other federally recognized tribes, the Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Ran ...

Indians of Northwest California used the roots for a blood and cough tonic. The

Hopi The Hopi are a Native American ethnic group who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, there are 19,338 Hopi in the country. The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation within the Unite ...

Paiute Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Pai ...

Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

Shoshoni The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho * Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah * Goshute: western Utah, easter ...

Blackfoot The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bla ...

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...

, Mendocino, and other tribes also used the plant for medicinal, food, and ceremonial needs. Native Americans also used the wood of the stem to produce yellow dyes to stain woven baskets.

Cultivation

Creeping mahonia is cultivated as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

for use in

natural landscaping Natural landscaping, also called native gardening, is the use of native plants and adapted species, including trees, shrubs, groundcover, and grasses which are local to the geographic area of the garden. Benefits Maintenance Natural landsc ...

, and in water conserving, drought tolerant, traditional residential,

native plant In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equ ...

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

, and

wildlife garden A wildlife garden (or wild garden) is an environment created by a gardener that serves as a sustainable haven for surrounding wildlife. Wildlife gardens contain a variety of habitats that cater to native and local plants, birds, amphibians, rep ...

s. It is a low water-needing

ground cover Groundcover or ground cover is any plant that grows over an area of ground. Groundcover provides protection of the topsoil from erosion and drought. In an ecosystem, the ground cover forms the layer of vegetation below the shrub layer known as t ...

for shade and brighter habitats, and in gardens under

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

s to reduce or eliminate irrigation that can threaten mature

Quercus An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably '' ...

trees. Berries and foliage are resistant to browsing by

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

. It is a year-round attractive, hardy plant, tolerant of drought, frost, and heat, so it is popular with

landscape designer Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practiced by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice, landscape design bridges the space between landscape architecture and garde ...

s and gardeners. It can provide good ground cover in a cold situation. In garden conditions, and where their ranges overlap in nature, this species hybridizes readily with Oregon-grape (''Mahonia aquifolium''), and the hybrids are less prostrate in their habit than the pure stock.

References

Other sources

* Beetle, A. A. Recommended plant names. Univ. Wyoming Agr. Exp. Sta. Res. J. 31. 1970 (Names Beetle) * Correll, D. S. & M. C. Johnston Manual of the vascular plants of Texas. 1970 (F Tex) * Erhardt, W. et al. Zander: Handwörterbuch der Pflanzennamen, 17. Auflage. 2002 (Zander ed17) * FNA Editorial Committee Flora of North America. 1993- (F NAmer) * Hickman, J. C., ed. The Jepson manual: higher plants of California. 1993 (F CalifJep) * Hitchcock, C. L. et al. Vascular plants of the Pacific Northwest. 1955-1969 (F Pacif NW) * Kearney, T. H. & R. H. Peebles Arizona flora, ed. 2. 1969 (F Ariz) * Martin, W. C. & C. R. Hutchins A flora of New Mexico. 1980 (F New Mex) * McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker Herbs of commerce, ed. 2. 2000 (Herbs Commerce ed2) * Welsh, S. L. et al. A Utah flora. Great Basin Naturalist Mem. 9. 1987 (F Utah)

External links

''Mahonia repens'' - UC/CalPhotos Gallery
{{Taxonbar, from=Q164154 repens Flora of Western Canada Flora of the Northwestern United States Flora of the Southwestern United States Plants used in Native American cuisine Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Plants described in 1828 Garden plants of North America Bird food plants Drought-tolerant plants Groundcovers