[Sca-cooks] Barberries

[Terry Decker]

That's Berberis vulgaris.  It's been the subject of a USDA eradication 
program in NM (in fact there was a national eradication compaign beginning 
in 1918), but it isn't on the state noxious weed list last time I looked.

Barberry was introduced to the US in the 17th Century as a cultivated plant 
and moved into the wild.  Because it is a host for Puccinia graminis, cereal 
stem rust, and has been known to support new genotypes of Puccinia capable 
of attacking rust resistant cereals, barberry is still subject to 
eradication and not normally cultivated in the US.  If you want to cultivate 
it, you will likely need to find it in the wild and transport it to your 
garden.  I doubt you will find it for sale because anyone selling it might 
be open to a lawsuit by wheat farmers.

Bear

----- Original Message ----- 

Does anyone have a European barberry bush I might have a cutting off of ? I 
am in northern new mexico and would like to grow a barberis vulgaris (for 
the berries), but I cannot find it for sale. It has bee listed as growing in 
Colorado and extreme Northern New Mexico.


Thanks in advance,

Natalie