Ontario
Weeds: Common barberry
Table of Contents
- Name
- Other Names
- Family
- General Description
- Stems and Roots
- Leaves
- Flowers and Fruit
- Habitat
- Similar Species
- Related Links
Name: Common barberry, Berberis vulgaris
L.,
Other Names: épine-vinette commune,
épine--vinette, vinettier
Family: Barberry Family (Berberidaceae)
General Description: Perennial, reproducing
only by seed
Photos and Pictures
Common barberry (A - spiny branches with clusters
of red berries; B - flowering branch).
Common barberry.
Stems & Roots: Bushy shrub 1-3m
(3-10ft) high, stems erect; branches gray to yellowish-gray with short,
sharp, slender, 3-branched spines (occasionally single or unbranched)
at nearly every node.
Leaves: Leaves in clusters or short lateral
spurs along the main branches, but distinctly alternate (1 per node)
on young, rapidly elongating branches; leaf blades broadest above
the middle, tapering towards the base, prominently net-veined and
grayish-green on the undersurface, with numerous, prominent, sharp
or spiny-tipped teeth.
Flowers & Fruit: Flowers bright
yellow in elongated, drooping racemes from leaf axils from the ends
of branches, small, each with 6 yellow sepals, 6 yellow petals, 6
stamens and 1 pistil; berries bright red, elliptical, about 1cm (2/5in.)
long and containing 1 to 3 or rarely more seeds. Flowers in May and
June; the yellow sepals and petals fall very soon afterwards, but
the bright red berries often hang on all winter.
Habitat: Common barberry was introduced
as an ornamental shrub, but now occurs wild along fence lines, road-sides,
riverbanks, edges of woods and in wasteland throughout southern Ontario.
Similar Species: It is distinguished from
other shrubs by its clusters of bristly toothed leaves, its 3-branched
spines, its small yellow flowers in long drooping racemes, and its
red berries. This plant is a very important pest because its leaves
become infested with the fungus which causes stem rust on oats, barley,
rye and wheat; the fungus overwinters in these leaves and spreads
from them to cause early-season infections of stem rust on nearby
grain crops. Eradication of this shrub is essential to help protect
grain crops from the stem rust fungus.
Related Links
... on general Weed
topics
... on weed identification, order OMAFRA Publication 505: Ontario Weeds
... on weed control, order OMAFRA Publication 75: Guide To Weed Control
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