''Berberis laurina'' is a spiny and woody, (semi-)evergreen shrub belonging to the barberries in the family Berberidaceae. It may grow to up to 2½ m high. The leaves are bluish green, and may turn yellow or red during autumn and winter. It has drooping racemes of light yellow flowers. The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to Uruguay, southern Brazil and Argentina ( Misiones province). The local name in Uruguay is espina amarilla, while it is called espinho-de-judeu in Brasil.

Description

''Berberis laurina'' is a spiny and woody shrub, up to 2½ m high, evergreen or with semi-persistent foliage. The leaves are bluish green, and may turn yellow or red during autumn and winter. The species occurs in the wild in Uruguay, southern Brazil and the Misiones province in the very east of Argentina. Its leaves are simple, alternate or sometimes almost in a whorl, hairless, leathery, with a short leafstem. The leafblade is elliptical in shape, 3–9 cm long, sometimes widest beyond midlength, and has a triangular base, entire margins or with few spiny teeth, while the tip also ends in a spine. The

thorns Thorn(s) or The Thorn(s) may refer to: Botany * Thorns, spines, and prickles, sharp structures on plants * ''Crataegus monogyna'', or common hawthorn, a plant species Comics and literature * Rose and Thorn, the two personalities of two DC Com ...

on the branches are split in three arms of about 4 cm long, and are somewhat yellowish in colour. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a drooping,

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

of 6–11 cm long, with

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

s of ½–1 cm long. The star symmetrical flowers are hermaphrodite and 4 mm in diameter. The calyx and corolla cannot be clearly distinguished since both consist of concave, ovate, light yellow

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s, together twelve in four whorls of three. The six stamens stand opposite to the inner two worls. The fruit is a small, oblong berry of 6–8 mm long, bluish black, and contain one to three seeds each.

References

External sources

Héctor A. Keller (2010). ''La presencia en Argentina de Berberis laurina Billb. (Berberidaceae), una especie de uso múltiple.'' Kurtziana versión On-line, ISSN 1852-5962
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5726282 laurina Flora of Argentina Flora of Uruguay Flora of Brazil Garden plants of South America Plants described in 1817