Index / Search / Mahonia aquifolium
§1 Plant
Mahonia aquifolium (Pursh) Nutt.
vernacular hollyleaved barberry — species · Berberidaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Shrub, Subshrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Berberidaceae Juss.
- Genus
- Mahonia
§2a
Native status, by region
- CAN Canada Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b
County-level range
· 121 counties across 10 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- High
- Shade
- Low
- Moisture use
- Low
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- Low
- Hedging
- Low
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -43 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 170 min.
- Precipitation
- 20–45 in/yr
- pH range
- 5–8
- Root depth
- 20 in min.
- Fertility need
- Low
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Lifespan
- Long
- Mature height
- 8 ft
- Height @ 20 y
- 8 ft
- Foliage texture
- Coarse
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Moderate
- Porosity (winter)
- Moderate
- Flower colour
- Yellow
- Fruit colour
- Blue
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Seed abundance
- Low
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Summer
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- Yes
- Seeds / lb
- 33,000
- Propagation
- seed, cuttings, bare root, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- Yes
- Browse palatability
- Medium
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 121 counties across 10 states/territories.
California view state ↗ 43 N ▾
- Alameda 06001
- Alpine 06003
- Amador 06005
- Butte 06007
- Calaveras 06009
- Colusa 06011
- Del Norte 06015
- El Dorado 06017
- Fresno 06019
- Glenn 06021
- Humboldt 06023
- Kern 06029
- Lake 06033
- Lassen 06035
- Los Angeles 06037
- Madera 06039
- Mariposa 06043
- Mendocino 06045
- Modoc 06049
- Monterey 06053
- Napa 06055
- Nevada 06057
- Placer 06061
- Plumas 06063
- Riverside 06065
- San Benito 06069
- San Bernardino 06071
- San Diego 06073
- Santa Barbara 06083
- Santa Clara 06085
- Santa Cruz 06087
- Shasta 06089
- Siskiyou 06093
- Solano 06095
- Sonoma 06097
- Stanislaus 06099
- Sutter 06101
- Tehama 06103
- Trinity 06105
- Tulare 06107
- Tuolumne 06109
- Ventura 06111
- Yuba 06115
District of Columbia view state ↗ 1 N ▾
Idaho view state ↗ 14 N ▾
Michigan view state ↗ 4 N ▾
Montana view state ↗ 3 N ▾
New Jersey view state ↗ 2 N ▾
New York view state ↗ 1 N ▾
Ohio view state ↗ 2 N ▾
Oregon view state ↗ 25 N ▾
- Benton 41003
- Clackamas 41005
- Clatsop 41007
- Coos 41011
- Curry 41015
- Deschutes 41017
- Douglas 41019
- Hood River 41027
- Jackson 41029
- Jefferson 41031
- Josephine 41033
- Klamath 41035
- Lane 41039
- Lincoln 41041
- Linn 41043
- Marion 41047
- Multnomah 41051
- Polk 41053
- Tillamook 41057
- Umatilla 41059
- Union 41061
- Wasco 41065
- Washington 41067
- Wheeler 41069
- Yamhill 41071
Washington view state ↗ 26 N ▾
- Chelan 53007
- Clallam 53009
- Clark 53011
- Ferry 53019
- Grays Harbor 53027
- Island 53029
- King 53033
- Kitsap 53035
- Kittitas 53037
- Klickitat 53039
- Lewis 53041
- Lincoln 53043
- Mason 53045
- Okanogan 53047
- Pend Oreille 53051
- Pierce 53053
- San Juan 53055
- Skagit 53057
- Skamania 53059
- Snohomish 53061
- Spokane 53063
- Stevens 53065
- Thurston 53067
- Walla Walla 53071
- Whitman 53075
- Yakima 53077
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/MAAQ2 ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/3033865 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T20:46:58Z