barberry

Plant Introductions: Meet Invasive Species Common Barberry and Japanese Barberry

Common barberry or European barberry, Berberis vulgaris, is a non-native invasive woody shrub.  Intentionally brought to North America by early settlers in the 1600s, it has escaped cultivation and is widely distributed in the northern U.S.  Common barberry is also an alternative host for the disease, black stem rust, a severe pest of grains.  As a result, large scale eradication efforts began in the 1900's to remove this reservoir of disease.  However, populations still exist in the Great Lakes states, including Ohio, and the northeastern United...

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Authors
Ashley Kulhanek