Click on images to enlarge
habit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
habit in fruit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
older stem with spines (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
leaves and flower clusters (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
young leaves (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
close-up of flowers (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
older leaves and mature fruit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
close-up of seeds (Photo: Steve Hurst at USDA PLANTS Database)
Scientific Name
Berberis vulgaris L.
Family
Berberidaceae
Common Names
barberry, barberry bush, common barberry, European barberry, jaundice berry
Origin
Native to Europe (i.e. Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Belarus, western Russia, Ukraine, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Yugoslavia, France and Spain) and western Asia (i.e. Turkey).
Naturalised Distribution
This species currently has a limited naturalised distribution in Australia. It is sparingly naturalised on the southern tablelands of New South Wales and is possibly also naturalised in Tasmania.
Naturalised overseas in the USA, Canada and New Zealand.
Notes
Common barberry (Berberis vulgaris) is regarded as an environmental weed in the southern highlands of New South Wales and as a "sleeper weed" in other parts of south-eastern Australia. It is currently listed as a priority environmental weed in one Natural Resource Management Region. This species is also an alternate host for a potentially damaging stem rust disease of wheat crops.