General: Fremont's Mahonia (Mahonia fremontii) is an upright shrub or subtree with green, holly-like spiny leaves (leaflets) and small yellow flowers set atop little stalks.

Fremont's Mahonia is a fairly common component of shrub communities on well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils on upper bajadas and moderate slopes into the lower mountains in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland) life zone.

Family: Barberry (Berberidaceae).

Other Names: Barberry, Berberis

Plant Form: Upright shrub or subtree; deciduous.

Height: Usually 6-8 feet, to 15 feet.

Bark: Brown to gray.

Stems: Upright, branching, generally open.

Leaves: Pinnately compound with 3-7 leaflets. Leaf to 5 inches long; leaflets to 3 inches long; petiole 1/2 inch. Leaflets oblong; margin with spine-tipped lobes (holly-like).

Flowers: Blooms spring and early summer. Inflorescence: 2-inches long raceme with 8–12 flowers. Buds yellow, spherical. Flowers yellow, 5 yellow petals.

Seeds: Fruit: spherical, yellowish to purple, to about 1/2-inch diameter. Seeds small (about 1/10 inch).

Habitat: Dry, well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils on upper bajadas, rocky areas, and moderate slopes in the lower mountains.

Elevation: 3,000 to 6,000 feet.

Distribution: California to Colorado, and south into Mexico.

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Fremont's Mahonia (Mahonia fremontii) flowers