Mountain holly, Grape holly (or hollygrape), Barberry, Creeping Mahonia, Mahonia repens

flowering season: April to June

photo: Matthews Winters Park, CO

A beauty for all seasons, she is an evergreen shrub with spiny leaves, growing 1-3 feet tall. New leaves emerge in spring with a bronze color before turning bright green, topped with dense clusters of tiny bright yellow flowers, followed by dusty blue-black berries later in summer, and burgundy red leaves in the fall. Her fruit is edible, but sour, after the season’s first frosts, and they were included in the diets of Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest, and make good jelly. Her roots and stalk contain Berberine, with antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties, and were used to treat stomach and digestive disorders and mild wounds. The inner bark of her larger stems and roots make a yellow dye. Her berries contain a dye that can be purple, blue, pink or green, depending on the pH of the water used to make the dye, as the berries contain a naturally occurring pH indicator. So many colors from one plant!