Mahonia sinensis

This is a really useful plant that adds a different texture to woodland planting or shady borders with its long pinnate leaves. The vertical, usually unbranched stems carry the leaves clustered near the tops, and unlike with many Mahonias, these are not particularly spiny. The new foliage emerges a bronzy colour in the spring and matures to a dark green. This hardy and easy, shrubby plant will grow slowly to a couple of metres in height with the stems tending to arch over as they get taller so a mature clump can be quite broad headed and as much as 1.5m wide. In addition, Mahonia sinensis carries its stubby racemes of bright yellow, fragrant flowers during the winter months with a flowering period lasting from late autumn till early spring. These cheerful flowers are followed by blue or purple-black, shiny berries. These are not toxic, but they are too tart for consumption though historically small amounts are mixed with other fruit for jams and compotes. 

 If the clump outgrows its space, it can be cut back quite hard. This may also have the additional effect of causing the normally straight stems to branch which is also a useful habit to know if you want a bushier plant. If it does need a prune, then do this in late spring after flowering, in order to give the plant a chance to grow out before its next flowering season during the autumn and winter.  

As the Latin name implies, this is one of the many plants that Robert Fortune found in southern and western China, where it was growing in ravines, shaded riverbanks and scrub, in woodland canopies and margins, so unsurprisingly, this is a plant that will thrive in quite dense shade and moist-but-well-drained soils. It was introduced to the UK in 1846 as Berberis fortunei, this was changed to Mahonia sinensis some 50 years later and there is continuing discussion about the morphology of berberis and mahonia and whether or not they are indeed one family.