Weekend Photoblogging

Who's Your Daddy?
Originally uploaded by urtica.

Came across some odd-looking Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii) on a walk the other day...

• Whorls of leaves with entire (smooth) margins [check]
• Single thorn in leaf axil [check]
• Sessile umbels of flowers and fruits...wha?

Looking at the stalks from last season's fruits, I noticed something was different. Japanese barberry has fruits hanging from flower stalks that sprout directly from the axil where the leaves meet the stem. This plant had a single stalk that branched out into two, three, and even four substalks. Almost like common barberry, Berberis vulgaris.

Almost, but not quite. Turns out this is most likely a hybrid between the two non-native barberries we see around New England, Berberis x ottawensis. See the IPANE page for more information.