Question: I am stumped again with an identification. I found a flowering bush along the Merrimack River in West Newbury, MA …
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Question
I am stumped again with an identification. I found a flowering bush along the Merrimack River in West Newbury, MA (my favorite place to walk these days). The leaves look like Rhododendron and the flowers hang down like blueberry 'bells,' but I've never seen yellow Rhododendron flowers like these or yellow blueberry flowers. Can you help?
Answer
lharley, you have photographed Berberis vulgaris (common barberry). This is a non-native shrub with spines and yellow flowers arranged in pendulous racemes. Unlike the Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry), this species has toothed leaves and some spines are branched. Both species are invasive in some situations.
