Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Berberidaceae
Genus: Mahonia
There are four species of Mahonia growing wild in New Zealand. Mahonia aquifolium (Oregon grape, Oregon grape holly or holly-leaved barberry), Mahonia lomariifolia (Chinese hollygrape or Burmese mahonia), Mahonia japonica (Japanese mahonia), Mahonia bealei (leatherleaf mahonia).
They are shrubs with erect stems with leaves clustered at the ends. The leaves consist of leathery, spiny leaflets. Mahonia typically has large, pinnate leaves 10–50 cm long with 5-15 leaflets.
They develop yellow flowers in racemes (up to 20 cm long). The fruit is blueberries that are dispersed by birds.
Mahonia species often form thickets, which excludes other understory vegetation. It can be found growing in forest (native & exotic) margins and in shrublands.
For more information (pdf) https://api.ecan.govt.nz/TrimPublicAPI/documents/download/1301294
Thanks to Wikipedia for text and information: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
