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FREMONT BARBERRY - Barberry Family Berberis fremontii      Sometimes called "holly-grape," Fremont barberry is one of the few South Rim shrubs with prickly, holly-like leaves (the related, but much smaller, ground-hugging Oregon grape also has prickly leaves). The leaves are about an inch long. While usually a 5 to 8 foot shrub, it can grow to small tree-size. A specimen just west of the Yavapai Point building is about 12 feet tall with a 6-inch diameter trunk.

 

Tidy little yellow flowers cover the bush in summer and develop into bunched dark blue berries that make good jam. Indians ate the berries ground into a mush. I like their sweet-tart flavor right off the bush. The leaves are compound--each apparent "leaf" is actually one of 3 to 7 leaflets that all branch from a common stalk.

 

On some individuals the leaves turn shades of red and yellow in the fall. Other plants stay green. Leaves cling to the plant all winter. Like so many opportunistic arid-land plants, off-season precipitation can stimulate flowering. This occurred in November of 2002 despite a week of freezing temperatures.

  Up to Trees and Shrubs  Ponderosa Pine  Pinyon Pine  Utah Juniper  Gambel Oak  Douglas-fir  Cliffrose  Apache Plume  Mormon Tea  Utah Serviceberry  Fernbush  Wax Currant  Big Sagebrush  Fremont Barberry  Rabbit Brush  Banana Yucca  Utah Agave  Mountain Mahogany Blueberry Elder Rock Mat Brickellbush Buffalo Berry