Berberis haematocarpa
Berberis haematocarpa, also known as red barberry, red Mexican barberry, Colorado barberry, or Mexican barberry, is a shrub in the barberry family. Some classifications call it Mahonia haematocarpa.
Where it grows: It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, at elevations of about 900–2,300 meters. It grows on rocky slopes and canyons, in pinyon-juniper woodlands, grasslands, and desert chaparral. It is found in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Sonora, and in the Mojave Desert regions of California and southern Nevada.
What it looks like: The shrub reaches 3–4 meters tall with stiff, erect branches. It has thick, compound leaves with a few thick leaflets and spiny edges. The leaves are a glaucous gray-green color from a waxy coating.
Flowers and fruit: The plant bears clusters of bright yellow flowers (3–5 flowers per cluster) from February to June. The fruit is a juicy red to purplish-red berry, round and up to 8 mm across.
Native uses: Apache people used shavings from the wood to make a yellow dye and as eye medicine; the berries were eaten fresh or dried.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 08:22 (CET).