Cascade Oregon-grape is a common understory plant in the conifer forests west of the Cascade crest. It is a low evergreen shrub, usually below knee height, that sends up single stems topped with a tuft of long compound leaves. Each leaf carries many stiff, leathery leaflets with spiny teeth, which look a lot like holly. In spring, upright spikes of bright yellow flowers appear, and by midsummer they become clusters of dark blue berries dusted with a pale bloom.
It handles deep shade well and can complete its whole life cycle under a closed canopy, yet it also grows in sunny clearings. Underground stems let it spread into loose colonies and sprout again after light fires, and its cover often grows for several years after a gentle burn. Small mammals eat the leaves, including the white-footed vole in Oregon’s Coast Range, and birds and mammals eat the berries. Deer and elk browse it in some places.
On Mt. Hood, look for it in the shade of low and middle-elevation conifer forest, mainly on the wetter west side. The yellow flower spikes stand out in spring, and the blue berry clusters are easy to spot beside trails in summer.
How to identify it
A low evergreen shrub, usually 10 to 60 cm tall, with leaves crowded at the stem tip. Each leaf has about 9 to 21 leathery, spine-toothed leaflets, and each leaflet shows several veins fanning from its base. Yellow flowers grow in upright clusters up to about 20 cm long, followed by round, dark blue berries with a whitish bloom.
Look-alikes
Tall Oregon-grape (Berberis aquifolium) is taller and stiffer, with only 5 to 9 glossy leaflets per leaf whose veins branch from a single midrib. Cascade Oregon-grape usually stays low, has more leaflets, and its leaflets have several main veins starting at the base.
Habitat
Shady to partly open conifer forests at low to middle elevations west of the Cascade crest, often as a dominant understory plant, and also forest-edge meadows and logged openings. On Mt. Hood, expect it in lower and middle-elevation forest, mainly on the west side.
Photos
Sightings in the forest
593 research-grade sightings in Mt. Hood National Forest on iNaturalist, most recently on October 16, 2026. See them on iNaturalist →