Taxonomic history The plant was first described by American botanist
Asa Gray, in 1895, named in of honor fellow botanist,
Reverend Joseph Cook Nevin (1835-1912), who was active in China and Southern California, particularly in the
Channel Islands. It was later described in 1901 by
Fedde and
Engel as
Mahonia nevinii. Gray's original description for the plant was the following:
Berbericidae, Berberis. B. Nevinii, Gray, n. sp. Leaflets 3 to 7,
oblong-lanceolate, rather evenly and numerously
spinulose-serrulate, half to full inch long, obscurely reticulated; lowest pair toward base of petiole:
raceme loosely 5-7-flowered, equalling [sic] or surpassing the leaves • pedicels slender. — S. California, near Los Angeles,
Nevin. Shrub 7 or 8 feet high, on a sandy plain. Berries juicy, ovoid, black or blue with a copious white bloom, called by Californian Mexicans
Leña Amarilla, and northward
Oregon Grape: leaflets ovate to oblong, usually 2 or 3 inches long: racemes commonly
fascicled at summit of stem or in axils, subsessile, dense and numerously flowered;
pedicels rather short.Following a reclassification in 1961, some botanists re-classified
Berberis nevinii (see Berberis) as
Mahonia nevinii (see
Mahonia), many commercial growers continue to use both names interchangeably. As early as 1880, Gray stated that "[a]ll our species belong to the section
Mahonia,
Nutt., which has evergreen unequally pinnate leaves, sessile spinulosely dentate leaflets, and dark blue globose berries." In a 1908 publication on fruits of California,
Edward J. Wickson, refers to other Californian barberries as belonging to the Mahonia genus and briefly describes
M. aquifolium,
M. nervosa, and M. pinnata. The latter is described as also being called
leña amarilla (yellow firewood)
, by Spanish Californians and noted for its "small, pleasant-flavored fruit". The conflation of the common name in Spanish, may be due to the plant's rarity and ambiguity in classification during the early classification process. In his initial description of
Mahonia species in California, Gray stated:
B. Pinnata, Mahonia fascicularis, DC. Hills about San Francisco Bay and southward to San Diego, thence East to New Mexico. Fruit pleasant to the taste and known to the Mexicans as
Leña amarilla. There has always been much confusion and is still some uncertainty respecting this species and its allies.
Lagasca's original description (published in 1803) professedly included specimens both from
Monterey and from
Vancouver Island, while the plant cultivated in the gardens from his seed, and figured under this name, appears to have been wholly the Oregon form, which
Pursh afterwards included with the low
B. repens in his description and figure of
B. Aquifolium.
Humboldt and
Bonpland afterward applied the name
B. pinnata to a Mexican plant, figured by them, and
DeCandolle at length included all, the Mexican, Californian, and Oregon together, under the name
Mahonia fascicularis. The question of synymy is most conveniently solved by retaining what has become the ordinary application of the names,
Berberis fascicularis being limited to the Mexican species, which seems distinguishable from the Californian
B. pinnata by its more numerous, more acuminate, and less shining leaflets. Though debate between botanists on the correct classification continues in the 21st Century, as of 2023 the most common place ment of the species is again in
Berberis as
Berberis nevinii. ==Distribution and habitat==