365 Urban species. #349: Japanese barberry

[urbpan]

Photos by urbpan. Location: Forest Park, Springfield Mass.

Urban species #349: Japanese barberry Berberis thunbergii

Barberries are thorny shrubs, and there are species which are native to Europe, one native to North America, and this one, native to Asia. American barberry was the target of an eradication program to control stem rust (Puccinia graminis). Stem rust, like quince rust and many others, is a fungus that feeds on two different types of plant during its life cycle. Stem rust lives part of its life cycle on barberry, and part of its life cycle on wheat. In the early part of the twentieth century, stem rust was an epidemic in wheat fields in North America, and the federal government waged war on barberry in order to save the country's grain supply. Barberry was almost completely eradicated from America.

Japanese barberry had been brought to the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, by way of Russia, in the late 1800's. It was shown to be resistant to the rust, and not a target of the eradication. These days some states are trying to control it however, as it is considered an invasive species. Both Japanese and European barberry will escape cultivation, either by vegetative propagation, or when birds eat the fruit and distribute the seeds in their droppings. In areas where growth of Japanese barberry has been ignored, it forms expansive thickets of thorny bushes. It is still sold as an ornamental at plant nurseries, but is less popular than it once was.



This is part of an extensive patch of Japanese barberry in a part of Forest Park that was once manicured but has become overgrown.


A well-behaved, if puny Japanese barberry, in downtown Hartford, near Bushnell Park.

Comments

[phlogiston-5.livejournal.com]

Here's some foliage from early spring

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Ah! Thanks so much!

[phlogiston-5.livejournal.com]

No problemo!

This plant is somewhere near the top of my list of "plants that suck". Also up there are Rosa multiflora, Toxicodendron radicans and Toxicodendron vernix.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

For everyone else's benefit I'll provide links:

Rosa multiflora

Toxicodendron radicans

(I have never seen poison sumac--knock wood!)

[(Anonymous)]

Barberries were gathered and eaten in the 19th century. I think that they are a decent source of vitamin C. As I recall Thoreau writes in his journal about picking barberries and bringing them home for the family.

Dwight

A Thorny business

[(Anonymous)]

I found it. HDT Journal (Sept 25, 1855)
...We got about 3 pecks of barberries
from 4 or 5 bushes--but I filled my
fingers with prickles to pay for them.
With the hands well defended, it
would be pleasant picking--they are
so handsome--and beside are so
abundant & fill up so fast.
I take hold the end of the drooping
twigs with my left hand raise them
& then strip downward at once
as many clusters as my hand
will embrace--commonly bringing
away with the raceme one or
small green leaves or bracts---which I do
not stop to pick out-- When
I come to a particular thick &
handsome wreath of fruit I pluck
the twig entire & bend it around
the inside of the basket. Some
bushes bear much larger & plumper
berries than others--some also are
comparatively green yet. Meanwhile
the cat-bird mews in the alders by
my side--& the scream of the jay
is heard from the woodside.

I also found a reference in some old ledgers for Oliver Ames in Easton charging someone for a 1/2 bushel of barberries, but I don't have the price at hand.

Re: A Thorny business

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Fascinating as always, Dwight! Thanks for sharing the wisdom. :)

banning of barberry

[pycnanthemum.livejournal.com]

It's no longer legal to import Japanese barberry into Massachusetts, as of July 2006, and in January 2009 it will no longer be legal to propagate it here. That included any hybrids or cultivars. Any local nurseries should just be burning off existing stock at this point - hopefully that doesn't mean tons of cheap invasive plants on sale!