Mahonia pinnata
"Mahonia pinnata" is a dark green bush which resembles holly with its serrated leaves. It has one to two inch long clusters of small yellow flowers. The fruit is a sour but edible purple berry with many seeds. The "Mahonia pinnata" fruits have also been used to produce purple dye. The shrub is used in landscaping as an ornamental plant. Songbirds eat the berries. One subspecies of this plant is very rare and is federally listed as an endangered species. It is known only from Santa Cruz Island, one of the Channel Islands of California, where it is known from 13 or fewer individuals. "Mahonia" is named for Bernard McMahon (1775-1816), an American horticulturist. "Pinnata" means 'set in two opposite rows' or 'pinnate', and is a reference in this case to the arrangement of the leaflets.
Description
Mahonia pinnata (syn.