Plant: Shrubs 50-100 cm tall Leaves: trifoliolate, 4-9 cm long; petiole 1-4 cm long; leaflets oblong, elliptic, ovate or obovate, sessile, coriaceous, light green but usually not very glaucous, scarcely paler below, 2.5-5.0 cm long, 2.0-3.5 cm wide; veins prominent; teeth of leaflet margin 1-2(-3) pairs, triangular to attenuate, 6-20 mm long, each bearing a spine Inflorescence: 2-4 cm long, corymbiform to racemose, 3-10-flowered; bracts green, acuminate, ovate to rhombic, 1.0-2.0 mm long; bracteoles 2, opposite or with one appressed to calyx and the other 2-4 mm below it, ovate to lanceolate, 1.0-1.5 mm long Flowers: sepals 9; outer sepals ovate, 1.5-2.0 mm long; middle sepals broadly ovate to lanceolate, 2.0-2.5 mm long; petals and inner sepals 6 mm long; stamens 2.5-3.0 mm long; filaments bearing 2 lateral spur-like teeth at apex Fruit: berries, globose to subglobose, black to dark blue, subglaucous, 5-6 mm long; SEEDS reddish-brown, fusiform, 3-5 mm long Misc: Mtn. canyons; 750-1050 m (2500-3500 ft); Feb-Mar REFERENCES: Laferrière, Joseph E. 2001. Berberidaceae. J. Ariz. – Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 26(1).