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 An
Illustrated Guide to
Common Weeds
of New Zealand
Berberis
glaucocarpa
barberry
Family
BERBERIDACEAE
 Reproduced
from
Common
Weeds of New Zealand
by Ian Popay, Paul Champion & Trevor James
ISBN 0 473 09760 5
by kind permission of the
New
Zealand Plant Protection Society
Publication or other use of images or descriptive
text on these pages is unauthorised unless written permission is
obtained from the authors and publisher.
Appropriate acknowledgement
of the publication Common Weeds of New Zealand must always
be given.
Available from Nationwide Book Distributors
Spiny, woody,
evergreen or semi-deciduous shrub often 2-3 m tall, sometimes used
as a hedge plant. Characterised by its very sharp spines that are
single or divided into three. Small yellow flowers followed by small
purple berries covered in a white bloom.
- Flowers
Petals and sepals yellow, flowers 5-7 mm in diameter, with an
unpleasant smell. In many-flowered drooping simple or compound
inflorescences up to 6 cm long. Flowers Oct-Nov.
- Fruit
Small, purplish, oblong berries, 7-12 mm long, with a white bloom.
Seeds are dispersed by birds.
- Leaves
Elliptical to ovate, up to 7.5 cm long by 2.5 cm wide and often
spiny-toothed.
- Stems
The main stems have yellowish-grey bark and very sharp, single
or three-pronged thorns, up to 2 cm long, in the leaf axils.
 Habitat
Waste places, reverting
hill country, scrub, forest margins and former house sites.
Distribution
Locally common in
some higher rainfall lowland areas in NI and the northern half
of SI. Originally from the western Himalayas.
Comments
Planted as a hedge
in many parts of NZ, and has spread out of control in many areas,
especially on broken or hilly ground where control is difficult
and intense stock grazing (for controlling seedlings) is harder
to achieve. Barberry is subject to Pest Plant Management Strategies
in several regions of NZ. Details are available from the regional
councils or unitary authorities.
Related
species
Darwin's barberry (Berberis
darwinii) is an evergreen shrub up to 4 m tall, with attractive,
deep orange flowers in simple drooping racemes up to 7 cm long
and dark purple berries with a bluish-white bloom. The small,
shiny dark green holly-like leaves alternate in clusters of three
to five, together with five-pronged, needle-sharp spines. This
species flowers Jan-Dec, and is found in scrub, forest and plantation
margins, road-sides, being locally common in Wellington and Wairarapa
in NI and very common from central Canterbury to Southland in
SI and Stewart Island. Listed on the National
Pest Plant Accord (see Introduction for details). European
barberry (Berberis vulgaris) occurs around old homesteads
and in some plantations, in inland Canterbury and Otago. It is
a deciduous shrub up to 2 m high, losing its leaves in winter,
and with oblong, red fruits.
Derivation
of botanical name
Berberis
(from the Arabic) = barberry; glaucocarpa (Lat.) = fruit
with a bloom.
Web-notes:
Weed Links
On this site
Reproduced from Common Weeds
of New Zealand:
External Links
 Weedbusters
New Zealand
- Weedbusters is a weeds awareness and education programme that aims to
protect New Zealand's environment from the increasing weed problem.
- AgPest
- A free tool to assist farmers and agricultural professionals in decision-making regarding weed and pest identification, biology, impact and management.
 New Zealand Weeds Key
- An interactive identification key to the weeds of New Zealand. Developed at Landcare Research.
New
Zealand Plant Conservation Network naturalised plants
- Search for information on more than 2500 naturalised and weedy plants.
 New
Zealand Plant Protection Society
- Their main objective: "To pool and exchange information on the biology
of weeds, invertebrate and vertebrate pests, pathogens and beneficial organisms
and methods for modifying their effects."
-
 Massey
University Weeds Database- A site providing information about New Zealand weeds and weed control.
It has a series of pages showing pictures of New Zealand weeds, notes on
identification and control. It also provides information on a university
paper entitled Controlling Weeds.
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