Index / Search / Berberis thunbergii
§1 Plant
Berberis thunbergii DC.
vernacular Japanese barberry — species · Berberidaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Shrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Berberidaceae Juss.
- Genus
- Berberis
§2a
Native status, by region
- CAN Canada Introduced
- L48 Lower 48 States Introduced
§2b
County-level range
· 3 counties across 1 state§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Low
- Shade
- High
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- None
- Salinity
- Low
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- None
- Hedging
- High
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -28 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 180 min.
- Precipitation
- 30–60 in/yr
- pH range
- 5.5–7.2
- Root depth
- 18 in min.
- Fertility need
- Low
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium, fine
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 6 ft
- Height @ 20 y
- 6 ft
- Foliage texture
- Fine
- Foliage colour
- Dark Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Dense
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- Yellow
- Fruit colour
- Red
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Seed abundance
- High
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Winter
- Spread rate
- Moderate
- Stratify
- Yes
- Seeds / lb
- 27,040
- Propagation
- seed, cuttings, bare root, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- Yes
- Browse palatability
- Low
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 3 counties across 1 state.
Rhode Island view state ↗ 3 I ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/BETH ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/3033896 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25
fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z