Oregon grape, the state flower of Oregon

How to recognize it

Oregon grape is an upright evergreen shrub, usually 3 to 10 feet tall and often leggy. Its leaves are compound, with about seven to nine stiff, leathery, glossy dark-green leaflets edged with spines, so it looks a lot like holly; the leaves may turn bronze or reddish purple in winter. In early spring it bears bright yellow flowers in dense clusters 2 to 3 inches long at the branch tips. The fruit is a dusty blue-black berry about a third of an inch across, which ripens in midsummer.

Not a grape

The Oregon grape belongs to the barberry family. It is still widely sold under its older name, Mahonia aquifolium, although botanists now place it in the genus Berberis. The species name, aquifolium, is the classical name for holly.

Where it grows

Oregon grape is native to Oregon. It grows wild from British Columbia south to northern California and east to Idaho, usually in the shade of mixed coniferous woods.

Where to see it

It is common in the understory of western Oregon’s conifer forests and is widely planted in gardens and landscapes. You can see it along the trails at Mount Pisgah Arboretum near Eugene and on the Oregon State University campus in Corvallis, north of Cordley Hall and around Owen Hall.

A sour harvest

Pacific Northwest tribes ate the sour berries fresh or dried them into cakes, often mixed with salal, and many people today make preserves from them.

The state flower since 1899

The Oregon Horticultural Society proposed the Oregon grape as the state flower at its 1892 convention, and the Legislature adopted it by resolution in 1899.