Berberis swaseyi Buckley
Texas barberry
Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Berberis swaseyi Buckley: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, Buckley ex M.J.Young.
48 photographs › At a glance
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Summary
Berberis swaseyi (Texas barberry) is a rare species of barberry endemic to the Edwards Plateau region of Texas. It grows in limestone ridges and canyons. The species is evergreen, with thick, rigid, five-to-nine foliolate leaves. Berries are dry or juicy, white to red, about 9–16 mm in diam.
Quoted from Wikipedia, "Berberis swaseyi", 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 no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (664 mm of 876 mm) takes 8 months, March to July and September to November. Mean temperature moves 18.4 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: September to January and March to May.
Rain
876 mm in the median year at the habitat, 664 mm of it March to July and September to November. Wettest month June at 112 mm, driest month January at 51 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 759 mm to 943 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 869 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 876 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: 17 to 43 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA).
Warmth and air
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -4.9 °C, the absolute minimum -16.6 °C, 960 frost nights in 44 years, 21.8 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 41.1 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 5.8 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 4.9 °C to 6.2 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 33.7 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -4.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).
Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 60% 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 -14 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
Mean daily high from 16 °C in Jan and Dec to 34 °C in Aug; mean nightly low from 6 °C in Jan to 23 °C in Jul and Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low. 876 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added), the wettest month Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 62 habitat cells. Over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER) the absolute minimum was -16.6 °C and the 99th-percentile day 41.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.
Figures by month
| Figure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 16 / 16–17 | 18 / 18–19 | 22 / 22–22 | 26 / 25–27 | 29 / 28–30 | 32 / 31–32 | 33 / 32–34 | 34 / 32–35 | 30 / 29–31 | 26 / 25–27 | 21 / 20–21 | 16 / 16–17 |
| Night °C | 6 / 5–6 | 8 / 7–8 | 11 / 10–11 | 15 / 13–15 | 19 / 18–19 | 22 / 20–23 | 23 / 21–24 | 23 / 22–24 | 20 / 19–21 | 16 / 15–17 | 11 / 10–12 | 7 / 6–7 |
| Rain mm | 51 / 35–56 | 53 / 40–58 | 68 / 57–75 | 65 / 57–74 | 96 / 86–104 | 112 / 99–122 | 66 / 54–78 | 53 / 47–62 | 82 / 75–89 | 104 / 87–114 | 71 / 49–79 | 55 / 37–63 |
| DLI | 19 / 19–20 | 23 / 23–25 | 29 / 29–31 | 36 / 35–37 | 37 / 37–39 | 41 / 40–42 | 43 / 43–43 | 41 / 40–41 | 34 / 33–34 | 26 / 26–27 | 20 / 20–21 | 17 / 17–19 |
| RH % | 58 / 57–58 | 57 / 56–58 | 57 / 56–58 | 57 / 56–57 | 60 / 59–61 | 59 / 58–60 | 57 / 56–58 | 56 / 55–56 | 57 / 56–58 | 58 / 57–58 | 58 / 57–58 | 58 / 57–58 |
How this section is made
Natural habitat
How this section is made
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Noland Martin, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Eric Knight, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Vicki Schmidt, some rights reserved (CC BY).
Related
Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.
Vitis monticola Mountain grape Photo: CC BY, Michael A. Thaibinh
Yucca rupicola Twisted-leaf Spanish-dagger Photo: CC BY, Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）
Muhlenbergia lindheimeri Lindheimer's muhly Photo: CC BY, Rachel
Chamaesaracha edwardsiana Edwards Plateau five eyes Photo: CC BY, Rachel
Verbesina lindheimeri Lindheimer Crownbeard Photo: CC BY, Rachel
Clematis texensis Crimson clematis Photo: CC BY-SA, Turner BrockmanOther Berberis 135 in the reference
Berberis actinacantha Berberidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Nicolás Villaseca Merino
Berberis aemulans Berberidaceae Photo: Public domain, Charles Sprague Sargent (1841-1927)
Berberis aetnensis Berberidaceae Photo: CC BY, Yves Bas
Berberis aggregata Clustered barberry Photo: CC BY, Ola Vestre Berberis alpina Berberidaceae 
Berberis amurensis Amur barberry Photo: CC BY, Violetta Dzizyurova
Berberis angulosa Berberidaceae Photo: CC0, author not stated
Berberis aristata Indian barberry Photo: CC BY, Sagnik Dutta Roy
Berberis aristatoserrulata Berberidaceae Photo: CC BY, Cheng-Te Hsu
Berberis asiatica Berberidaceae Photo: CC BY, Patricia Rose Berberis atrocarpa Berberidaceae 
Berberis beaniana Berberidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz all 136 ›Names & registers
The record
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 answeredasked 2026-10-21GBIF's key 3033882 is Berberis swaseyi Buckley ex M.J.Young; the page links Kew's Berberis swaseyi Buckley, and the name is cited as Kew cites itgbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04gbif.occurrences answeredasked 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 17 records of GBIF's key 9923687, Alloberberis swaseyi (Buckley) C.C.Yu & K.F.Chung (Kew's file holds it as Alloberberis swaseyi (Buckley) C.C.Yu & K.F.Chung (synonym under Berberis swaseyi Buckley)): GBIF occurrence search APIclimate answeredasked 2026-10-21climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 30.50_-98.125, lapse-corrected -14 m at 6.5 °C/kmwikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22inat.photos.cultivated not askedgbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshotEvery 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.