Scientific name:
Mahonia nervosa General: Erect, rhizomatous, evergreen, stiff-branched shrub, to 60 cm tall; leaves like holly; bark and wood yellowish.
Leaves: Clustered, long, alternate, turning reddish or purplish in winter, with 9-19 leathery leaflets, somewhat shiny on both surfaces; leaflets oblong to egg-shaped, with several prominent spiny teeth (resembling English holly).
Flowers: Bright yellow, flower parts in 6s; many-flowered erect clusters to 20 cm long.
Fruits: Blue berries about 1 cm across with few large seeds and a whitish bloom, in elongated clusters, edible.
Ecology: Dry to fairly moist, open to closed forests at low to middle elevations.