Example ⟳ +
An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Berberis sieboldii; photograph Alpsdake, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SAAlpsdake, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Berberis sieboldii Miq.

Berberidaceae · Japan

Add one to my plants
Sow seed
Berberis sieboldii, photograph Alpsdake, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBerberis sieboldii, photograph Alpsdake, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBerberis sieboldii, photograph Alpsdake, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBerberis sieboldii, photograph Alpsdake, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBerberis sieboldii, photograph Alpsdake, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBerberis sieboldii, photograph Alpsdake, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons 12 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-2.6°C
Record low -6.1 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
30°C
Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,944mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
16–34DLI
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
Wet summers: the rain comes April to October, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

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 summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,470 mm of 1,950 mm) falls in April to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 20.7 °C against a yearly mean of 14.7 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to April.

Rain

1,950 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,470 mm of it April to October. Wettest month September at 261 mm, driest month December at 63 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,585 mm to 2,379 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,944 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,950 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: 16 to 34 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 15, the highest 90th-percentile month 36).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -2.6 °C, the absolute minimum -6.1 °C, 1,823 frost nights in 44 years, 41.4 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -1.8 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -5.2 °C to 1.1 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 29.6 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -2.6 °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: 57 to 66% 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 +95 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

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Berberis sieboldii through the yearWarmest month August, mean daily high 30 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -1.8 °C; 1,950 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°frost32.3° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-6.1° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 16–34RH 57–66%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 22 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 °C7 / 5–88 / 5–911 / 10–1317 / 16–1822 / 20–2225 / 23–2628 / 26–2930 / 28–3126 / 24–2720 / 19–2115 / 13–169 / 8–11
Night °C-2 / -5–1-2 / -5–12 / 0–47 / 6–912 / 11–1417 / 16–1921 / 20–2322 / 20–2418 / 17–2012 / 10–145 / 4–90 / -2–4
Rain mm72 / 53–8791 / 68–107153 / 117–189162 / 116–197208 / 161–247259 / 210–317256 / 199–327166 / 140–211261 / 184–325158 / 136–185101 / 84–12363 / 48–75
DLI18 / 16–1923 / 21–2428 / 27–2933 / 32–3434 / 34–3632 / 30–3432 / 30–3333 / 32–3526 / 26–2722 / 22–2318 / 17–1816 / 15–17
RH %58 / 56–6157 / 56–6057 / 56–5958 / 57–5960 / 59–6164 / 63–6666 / 64–6864 / 62–6664 / 62–6461 / 59–6360 / 58–6159 / 57–60
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 22 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (22 records in those cells; 2 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), 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 1096:6342 (35.175, 137.125). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -6.1 °C, 1st-percentile night -2.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.3 °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 22 distinct grid cells holding 22 of the 24 in-range records (2 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1096:6342 (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 35.00_136.875, lapse-corrected +95 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 174 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.
NativeJapan · 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 marker35.2, 136.6 · in the densest population, 36 records (72% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 50 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 22 of them in the land cells it reads, of 24 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 48 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 13 km away. 3 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 26 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.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 50 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 sieboldii, photograph 1did not loadBerberis sieboldii, photograph 2did not loadBerberis sieboldii, photograph 3did not loadBerberis sieboldii, photograph 4did not loadBerberis sieboldii, photograph 5did not loadBerberis sieboldii, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Alpsdake, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (6).

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

Asimitellaria japonica Saxifragaceae Alnus trabeculosa Betulaceae Rhododendron stenopetalum Rhododendron stenopetalum Ericaceae Photo: CC BY, 如此甚好Magnolia stellata Magnolia stellata Star magnolia Photo: CC BY-SA, SK53Pecteilis radiata Pecteilis radiata Egret orchid Photo: CC BY, Oleg KosterinRhododendron makinoi Rhododendron makinoi Ericaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Kurt Stüber

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

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidata

The record

Family
Berberidaceae
Described by
Miq.
Native to
Japan
Wild records
50 in range · 48 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 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 7 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (7 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 35.00_136.875, lapse-corrected +95 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21found by its label; its IPNI identifier 107082-1 is Kew's for Berberis sieboldii Miq.
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media nothing to reportasked 2026-10-21
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-21
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 15 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…