urbpan | 365 Urban species. #349: Japanese barberry

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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.