Species
+

Mahonia aquifolium (Pursh) Nutt.

Gewöhnliche Mahonie (DE), Hollyleaved barberry (US), Oregon Grape (EN), Oregon grape

Climate known 39 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Berberis aquifolium, the Oregon grape, holly-leaved barberry, or Mahonia, is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Berberidaceae. It is an evergreen shrub growing up to 3 metres (10 ft) tall and 1.5 m (5 ft) wide. It has pinnate leaves consisting of spiny leaflets, exhibiting dense clusters of yellow flowers in early spring, followed by dark bluish-black berries.

Text from Wikipedia, “Berberis aquifolium”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Mahonia

Mahonia is a formerly accepted genus of approximately 70 species of shrubs or, rarely, small trees with evergreen leaves in the family Berberidaceae, native to eastern Asia, the Himalaya, North America, and Central America. They are closely related to the genus Berberis and as of 2023 the majority of botanical sources list it as a synonym for Berberis.

Text from Wikipedia, “Mahonia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Berberidaceae
Described by
(Pursh) Nutt.
Native to
British Columbia, Idaho, Montana +3
Wild records
331 in range· 49 open

At a glance

Warmest month
25°C
Aug, mean day; nights 14 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1112mm/yr
11 wet months · peak Nov 180 mm (CHELSA)
Light
6–43DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a winter growing season, October to March in the northern hemisphere (October to March at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1112 mm a year, wettest November at 180 mm, driest July at 24 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 6 to 43 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -6.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Berberis aquifolium Nutt.; Berberis aquifolium Pursh; Berberis aquifolium var. aquifolium; Berberis aquifolium var. juglandifolia (Jouin) Rehder; Berberis aquifolium var. lyallii (Ahrendt) Marroq. & Laferr. and 30 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, October to March in the northern hemisphere (October to March at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (826 mm of 1112 mm) falls in October to March, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 6.6 °C against a yearly mean of 10.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: April to September.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: 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 gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1112 mm a year, wettest November at 180 mm, driest July at 24 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1112 mm a year at the habitat, 826 mm of it October to March. Wettest month November at 180 mm, driest July at 24 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 438 mm to 2033 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

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

Light Open sky over the habitat: 6 to 43 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 6 to 43 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 5, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

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.

Warmth and air Cold floor -6.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -6.1 °C, the absolute minimum -18.1 °C, about 35 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.5 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 1.4 °C in December (across the envelope cells -6.9 °C to 3.6 °C), warmest day 25.0 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -6.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 55 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 6 °C in Dec to 25 °C in Aug; mean night from 1 °C in Dec to 14 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Nov to Jan, is the three months around the coldest night. 1112 mm of rain a year, most in Nov. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 202 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -18.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 36.5 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost36.5° 99th-percentile day (undated)-18.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 6–43RH 55–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 202 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C7 / 0–98 / 3–1111 / 7–1314 / 11–1618 / 14–2021 / 17–2425 / 20–2825 / 20–2921 / 18–2515 / 12–189 / 4–126 / -1–8
Night °C2 / -7–42 / -5–44 / -2–55 / 1–78 / 5–911 / 9–1213 / 12–1514 / 12–1612 / 9–138 / 4–104 / -2–61 / -7–4
Rain mm158 / 45–280107 / 31–203108 / 32–20175 / 30–15565 / 39–11352 / 30–9924 / 13–5626 / 13–5444 / 21–85103 / 37–199180 / 45–315170 / 49–291
DLI8 / 6–1014 / 12–1721 / 19–2629 / 28–3536 / 34–4240 / 36–4543 / 39–4838 / 35–4228 / 26–3216 / 14–209 / 7–116 / 5–8
RH %65 / 62–6862 / 60–6562 / 57–6460 / 55–6259 / 53–6158 / 52–6156 / 50–6055 / 50–6157 / 52–6262 / 57–6566 / 63–6865 / 63–68

Each figure is the median across the 202 grid cells holding the 326 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 893:1146 (45.325, -122.675). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -18.1 °C, 1st-percentile night -6.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.5 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 202 distinct grid cells holding the 326 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 893:1146 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 45.50_-122.500, lapse-corrected -145 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 112 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 every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBritish Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, California· introduced: Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, France, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, Baltic States, Krym, Central European Russia, North European Russia, Ukraine, Sakhalin, Uzbekistan, West Himalaya, New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, Ontario, Québec, Michigan, Vermont, Nevada
Kew's description“subshrub or shrub” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker48.406, -123.322 · in the densest population, 272 records (82% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 331 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 49 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 389 km away. 469 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 5 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 331 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Mahonia aquifoliumMahonia aquifoliumMahonia aquifoliumMahonia aquifoliumMahonia aquifoliumMahonia aquifoliumMahonia aquifoliumMahonia aquifolium

Photographs: Richard Fuller, CC0 via GBIF; pankral, BY-SA via GBIF · CC BY-SA; Caleb Catto, BY via GBIF · CC BY; Tser, BY via GBIF · CC BY (3); Rune Zakariassen, BY via GBIF · CC BY; unknown, BY via GBIF · CC BY.

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Mahonia aquifolium, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Wheat stripe (yellow) rust caused by P uccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici
Wanquan Chen, C. Wellings, Xianming Chen, Zhengsheng Kang (2013) · Molecular Plant Pathology
Ethnoveterinary medicines used for ruminants in British Columbia, Canada
Cheryl Lans, Nancy J. Turner, Tonya Khan, Gerhard W. Brauer (2007) · Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
Endophytic fungi in evergreen shrubs in western Oregon: A preliminary study
Orlando Petrini, Jeffrey K. Stone, Fanny E. Carroll (1982) · Canadian Journal of Botany
Free radical scavenging activity and lipoxygenase inhibition of Mahonia aquifolium extract and isoquinoline alkaloids
Lucia Račková, Marek Obložinský, Daniela Košťálová, Viktor Kettmann (2007) · Journal of Inflammation
Antimicrobial activity of berberine—a constituent ofMahonia aquifolium
M. Čerňáková, Daniela Košťálová (2002) · Folia Microbiologica
Antiradical and antioxidant activities of alkaloids isolated from Mahonia aquifolium. Structural aspects
Lucia Račková, Magdaléna Májeková, Daniela Košťálová, Milan Štefek (2004) · Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry
Determination of conjugated linolenic acid content of selected oil seeds grown in Turkey
Sevil Yücel (2005) · Journal of the American Oil Chemists Society
Antifungal activity of Mahonia aquifolium extract and its major protoberberine alkaloids
Anna Volleková, Daniela Košťálová, Viktor Kettmann, Jaroslav Tóth (2003) · Phytotherapy Research
Antimicrobial activity of Mahonia aquifolium crude extract and its major isolated alkaloids
Lívia Slobodníková, Daniela Košťálová, Darina Labudová, D Kotulová (2004) · Phytotherapy Research
Isoquinoline alkaloids fromMahonia aquifolium stem bark are active againstMalassezia spp.
Anna Volleková, Daniela Košťálová, R Sochorová (2001) · Folia Microbiologica

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Mahonia 5 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search API
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: not asked: 39 wild photographs already from the GBIF download
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 9 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.