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Berberis harrisoniana; photograph Spirituscanis, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SASpirituscanis, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Berberis harrisoniana Kearney & Peebles

Berberidaceae · Arizona

English names not checked: Wikidata's common names were not read for this page.

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Berberis harrisoniana, photograph Spirituscanis, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBerberis harrisoniana, photograph Spirituscanis, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBerberis harrisoniana, photograph Spirituscanis, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBerberis harrisoniana, photograph Spirituscanis, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons 5 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-3.2°C
Record low -8.3 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
38°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
167mm
1 month of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
21–55DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A rainy season, December to February and July to September, neither the cool nor the warm half of the year. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 11 records in 5 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Berberis harrisoniana (syn: Mahonia harrisoniana) is a rare species of flowering plant in the barberry family, Berberidaceae. It is known by the common names Kofa barberry, Kofa Mountain barberry, Harrison's barberry, and red barberry.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Berberis harrisoniana", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Berberis

Berberis, commonly known as barberry, is a large genus of deciduous and evergreen shrubs from 1–5 m tall, found throughout temperate and subtropical regions of the world. Species diversity is greatest in South America and Asia, but native species also appear in Europe, Africa, and North America.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Berberis", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a rainy season with no name: 70% of the median year's rain (121 mm of 168 mm) falls in December to February and July to September, whose mean temperature, 21.0 °C, is within half a degree of the year's, 21.2 °C, so it is neither the cooler nor the warmer part of the year. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: January to March and June to August.

Rain

168 mm in the median year at the habitat, 121 mm of it December to February and July to September. Wettest month August at 26 mm, driest month June at 1 mm; 2 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 147 mm to 210 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 167 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 168 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 21 to 55 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 19, the highest 90th-percentile month 55).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -3.2 °C, the absolute minimum -8.3 °C, 896 frost nights in 44 years, 20.4 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 42.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 5.5 °C in December (across the grid cells of the range 4.5 °C to 6.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 38.4 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -3.2 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 32 to 43% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +363 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 11 records in 5 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Berberis harrisoniana through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 38 °C; coldest month December, mean nightly low 5.5 °C; 168 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°50°frost42.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-8.3° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter01020304050mm rainDLI 21–55RH 32–43%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 5 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C17 / 16–1919 / 17–2123 / 21–2427 / 25–2832 / 30–3337 / 35–3738 / 37–3937 / 36–3835 / 33–3529 / 27–3021 / 20–2316 / 15–18
Night °C6 / 5–77 / 6–99 / 8–1112 / 12–1417 / 16–1922 / 21–2326 / 24–2625 / 24–2621 / 21–2315 / 15–1810 / 9–116 / 5–7
Rain mm22 / 19–2420 / 18–2316 / 14–205 / 5–73 / 2–31 / 1–217 / 11–2626 / 20–4418 / 15–1911 / 10–1311 / 10–1218 / 16–23
DLI23 / 22–2429 / 28–3039 / 38–4048 / 47–4853 / 53–5355 / 54–5550 / 49–5045 / 44–4540 / 40–4033 / 32–3425 / 24–2621 / 19–22
RH %43 / 42–4542 / 41–4439 / 38–4136 / 34–3834 / 32–3632 / 31–3439 / 37–4243 / 41–4540 / 38–4338 / 37–4140 / 38–4243 / 42–46
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 5 grid cells holding the 11 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1133:1320 (33.325, -113.975). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -8.3 °C, 1st-percentile night -3.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 42.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 5 distinct grid cells holding 11 of the 11 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1133:1320 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 33.50_-113.750, lapse-corrected +363 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 867 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.

This species has no GBIF key of its own. Its records are GBIF's under the key of the name Kew's World Checklist holds as this plant: 3981949 (Mahonia harrisoniana (Kearney & Peebles) H.L.Li, 223 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeArizona · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker33.344, -114.066 · in the densest population, 96 records (100% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub” · “desert or dry shrubland” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 96 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 11 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 42 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1 km away. 1 record outside the WCVP native range not used. Under a dozen records behind the climate. 85 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 3981949 (Mahonia harrisoniana (Kearney & Peebles) H.L.Li): Kew's file holds it as Mahonia harrisoniana (Kearney & Peebles) H.L.Li (synonym under Berberis harrisoniana Kearney & Peebles); 223 records, from GBIF's download.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 96 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Berberis harrisoniana, photograph 1did not loadBerberis harrisoniana, photograph 2did not loadBerberis harrisoniana, photograph 3did not loadBerberis harrisoniana, photograph 4did not load

Photographs: Spirituscanis, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (4).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Agave simplex Agave simplex Simple desert agave Photo: CC0, author not statedKrameria bicolor Krameria bicolor Crimson Beak Photo: CC BY, Henrik KibakEriophyllum lanosum Eriophyllum lanosum White Easter-bonnets Photo: CC BY-SA, Stan ShebsAmbrosia dumosa Ambrosia dumosa White bur-sage Photo: CC BY, CK2AZTetracoccus hallii Tetracoccus hallii Chuckwalla bushspurge Photo: CC BY, Ian McFaulEncelia frutescens Encelia frutescens Brittlebush Photo: CC BY, Matt Berger

Other Berberis 135 in the reference

Berberis actinacantha Berberis actinacantha Berberidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Nicolás Villaseca MerinoBerberis aemulans Berberis aemulans Berberidaceae Photo: Public domain, Charles Sprague Sargent (1841-1927)Berberis aetnensis Berberis aetnensis Berberidaceae Photo: CC BY, Yves BasBerberis aggregata Berberis aggregata Clustered barberry Photo: CC BY, Ola Vestre Berberis alpina Berberidaceae Berberis amurensis Berberis amurensis Amur barberry Photo: CC BY, Violetta DzizyurovaBerberis angulosa Berberis angulosa Berberidaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedBerberis aristata Berberis aristata Indian barberry Photo: CC BY, Sagnik Dutta RoyBerberis aristatoserrulata Berberis aristatoserrulata Berberidaceae Photo: CC BY, Cheng-Te HsuBerberis asiatica Berberis asiatica Berberidaceae Photo: CC BY, Patricia Rose Berberis atrocarpa Berberidaceae Berberis beaniana Berberis beaniana Berberidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz all 136 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Mahonia harrisoniana. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Berberidaceae
Described by
Kearney & Peebles
Native to
Arizona
Wild records
96 in range · 42 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
Kew's names (WCVP) kew.names answeredas of 2026-06-04Kew's entry Berberis harrisoniana Kearney & Peebles (plant_name_id 2673874), read from Kew's names file
GBIF species record gbif.species not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21this species has no GBIF key of its own; its records are read under GBIF's keys for the names Kew's file holds as this plant, never by a name matched; GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 223 records of GBIF's key 3981949, Mahonia harrisoniana (Kearney & Peebles) H.L.Li (Kew's file holds it as Mahonia harrisoniana (Kearney & Peebles) H.L.Li (synonym under Berberis harrisoniana Kearney & Peebles)): the GBIF download; 1 record within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 33.50_-113.750, lapse-corrected +363 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 31437-2, POWO 31437-2
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 14 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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