Oregon grape has been Oregon’s state flower since the Legislature adopted it in 1899, and it is a familiar evergreen shrub of open woods and dry, sunny slopes. Its glossy, spiny-edged leaflets look a lot like holly, and in early spring it carries dense clusters of bright yellow flowers at the ends of its stems.
Later in the year the flowers give way to clusters of round, deep blue berries covered in a pale, powdery bloom. The leathery leaves stay green through winter, though in cold, sunny spots they often turn bronze or reddish purple. Plants grow upright and stiff-branched, anywhere from under a foot to more than six feet tall, and some spread by runners to form patches. It grows on both sides of the Cascades, and on Mt. Hood it is most likely in open woods.
Two native Oregon grapes grow in the region and are easy to mix up. This one, often called tall Oregon grape, has fewer, shinier leaflets on each leaf. Its low-growing relative, Cascade Oregon-grape, has many more leaflets and favors light woodland and forest edges. Counting the leaflets on a leaf is the quickest way to tell them apart.
How to identify it
An upright, stiff-branched evergreen shrub. Each leaf has 5 to 9 glossy, leathery leaflets in pairs along a central stalk, each leaflet edged with many spine-tipped teeth and veined like a feather from a single midrib. Bright yellow flowers bloom in clusters 1 to 3 inches long in spring, followed by round, powdery deep blue berries about a third to a half inch long.
Look-alikes
Cascade Oregon-grape is a low shrub, usually under a foot tall, with 9 to 21 duller leaflets per leaf, each with several main veins fanning out from its base. Tall Oregon grape has 5 to 9 shiny leaflets, each with a single main vein.
Habitat
Open woods, forest edges and dry, sunny slopes, including sagebrush slopes, on both sides of the Cascades.
Sightings in the forest
458 research-grade sightings in Mt. Hood National Forest on iNaturalist, most recently on October 28, 2026. See them on iNaturalist →