In the spring, a profusion of small, yellow flowers cover this robust, prickly shrub that can reach 6-feet tall and wide. By summer, bright red berries are devoured by wildlife and make a delicious tart jelly. Note the stout, blue-green leaves have 3–9 slender leaflets with spine-tipped margins.

FLOWERS: April–June. Clusters with 3–7 flowers, each 1/4–3/8-inch across (6–9.5 mm), with 6 small petals in an erect column and 6 spreading sepals. The blood-red, juicy berries are 3/8-inch in diameter (9.5 mm).

LEAVES: Alternate, evergreen, odd pinnate. Blade 1–2 1/2-inches long (25–50 mm); midrib lined with 3–7 narrow leaflets; leaflets about 1/2 times wide as long, terminal leaflet longest; margins lined with spiny teeth.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly, rocky slopes, washes, foothills; pinyon-juniper woodlands.

ELEVATION: 4,400–8,000 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CA, CO, NM, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Desert Oregon-grape, B. fremontii, scattered statewide, has purple fruit. Agarita, B. trifoliolata, from extreme southern NM through cent. TX, is a smaller shrub with leaves with 3 prickly leaflets.

NM COUNTIES: In the southern half of NM in mid-elevation sunny, arid habitats: Bernalillo, Cibola, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Luna, Otero, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Torrance, Valencia.