Berberis laurina is a spiny and woody shrub, up to 2½ m high, evergreen or with semi-persistent foliage. The leaves are
bluish green, and may turn yellow or red during autumn and winter. The species occurs in the wild in Uruguay, southern Brazil and the Misiones province in the very east of Argentina. Its leaves are simple, alternate or sometimes almost
in a whorl, hairless, leathery, with a short
leafstem. The leafblade is elliptical in shape, 3–9 cm long, sometimes widest beyond midlength, and has a triangular base, entire margins or with few spiny teeth, while the tip also ends in a spine. The
thorns on the branches are split in three arms of about 4 cm long, and are somewhat yellowish in colour. The
inflorescence is a drooping,
raceme of 6–11 cm long, with
pedicels of ½–1 cm long. The
star symmetrical flowers are hermaphrodite and 4 mm in diameter. The calyx and corolla cannot be clearly distinguished since both consist of concave, ovate, light yellow
tepals, together twelve in four whorls of three. The six stamens stand opposite to the inner two whorls. The fruit is a small, oblong berry of 6–8 mm long, bluish black, and contain one to three seeds each. == References ==