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
· 217 counties across 14 states/territories§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 217 counties across 14 states/territories.
District of Columbia view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Georgia view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Kentucky view state ↗ 23 I ▾
- Bath 21011
- Bell 21013
- Bracken 21023
- Campbell 21037
- Garrard 21079
- Harlan 21095
- Harrison 21097
- Jackson 21109
- Jefferson 21111
- Laurel 21125
- Lyon 21143
- Madison 21151
- Montgomery 21173
- Nicholas 21181
- Oldham 21185
- Owsley 21189
- Pendleton 21191
- Perry 21193
- Powell 21197
- Robertson 21201
- Rowan 21205
- Spencer 21215
- Trigg 21221
Maine view state ↗ 7 I ▾
Massachusetts view state ↗ 14 I ▾
New Hampshire view state ↗ 8 I ▾
New Jersey view state ↗ 17 I ▾
New York view state ↗ 30 I ▾
- Albany 36001
- Bronx 36005
- Cattaraugus 36009
- Chautauqua 36013
- Clinton 36019
- Dutchess 36027
- Erie 36029
- Essex 36031
- Genesee 36037
- Kings 36047
- Livingston 36051
- Nassau 36059
- New York 36061
- Oneida 36065
- Onondaga 36067
- Orange 36071
- Orleans 36073
- Putnam 36079
- Queens 36081
- Richmond 36085
- Rockland 36087
- Saratoga 36091
- Suffolk 36103
- Sullivan 36105
- Tioga 36107
- Tompkins 36109
- Ulster 36111
- Warren 36113
- Wayne 36117
- Westchester 36119
North Carolina view state ↗ 5 I ▾
Pennsylvania view state ↗ 51 I ▾
- Adams 42001
- Allegheny 42003
- Beaver 42007
- Bedford 42009
- Berks 42011
- Blair 42013
- Bradford 42015
- Bucks 42017
- Butler 42019
- Cambria 42021
- Carbon 42025
- Centre 42027
- Chester 42029
- Clearfield 42033
- Clinton 42035
- Columbia 42037
- Cumberland 42041
- Dauphin 42043
- Delaware 42045
- Elk 42047
- Erie 42049
- Fulton 42057
- Greene 42059
- Huntingdon 42061
- Indiana 42063
- Juniata 42067
- Lackawanna 42069
- Lancaster 42071
- Lawrence 42073
- Lebanon 42075
- Lehigh 42077
- Luzerne 42079
- Lycoming 42081
- McKean 42083
- Mercer 42085
- Mifflin 42087
- Monroe 42089
- Montgomery 42091
- Northampton 42095
- Northumberland 42097
- Pike 42103
- Snyder 42109
- Somerset 42111
- Susquehanna 42115
- Tioga 42117
- Venango 42121
- Warren 42123
- Wayne 42127
- Westmoreland 42129
- Wyoming 42131
- York 42133
Rhode Island view state ↗ 3 I ▾
Vermont view state ↗ 7 I ▾
Virginia view state ↗ 34 I ▾
- Albemarle 51003
- Appomattox 51011
- Augusta 51015
- Bath 51017
- Campbell 51031
- Caroline 51033
- Carroll 51035
- Chesterfield 51041
- Clarke 51043
- Craig 51045
- Culpeper 51047
- Fairfax 51059
- Fauquier 51061
- Floyd 51063
- Frederick 51069
- Giles 51071
- Grayson 51077
- Hanover 51085
- Henry 51089
- James City 51095
- Loudoun 51107
- Louisa 51109
- Mathews 51115
- Orange 51137
- Page 51139
- Prince Edward 51147
- Prince William 51153
- Rappahannock 51157
- Richmond 51159
- Rockingham 51165
- Russell 51167
- Shenandoah 51171
- Warren 51187
- Wise 51195
§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-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T05:45:41Z