Monday 11 December 2023


 Very few flowers to photograph at this time of year but Mahonia x media comes into its own; cultivars like 'Winter Sun' and 'Charity' are widely planted. I don't detect any particular scent but bumblebees do and will come out of hibernation on milder days when they get a whiff of it.
 Sometimes the various Mahonia are referred to as 'Oregon Grape'. More accurately that is the common name of the lower growing and spring flowering M. aquifolium which hails from the Pacific Northwest of America. The ones that bloom in winter have Asiatic antecedents being accidental and deliberate crosses of M. japonica and M. lomariifolia (and perhaps M. bealei). Botanically speaking I should note that Mahonia is generally now classified as Berberis which is a larger genus.
 Looking more closely at the inflorescence of the one seen above it has the characteristics of a raceme i.e. a flower spike where the flowers grow and open from the base upwards.