Description from Flora of China
Berberis bealei Fortune, Gard. Chron. 1850: 212. 1850; B. bealei var. planifolia J. D. Hooker; Mahonia bealei var. planifolia (J. D. Hooker) Ahrendt; M. japonica Thunberg var. bealei (Fortune) Fedde; M. japonica var. planifolia (J. D. Hooker) H. Léveillé.
Shrubs or small trees, 0.5-4(-8) m tall. Leaves abaxially sometimes yellowish green, adaxially dull grayish green, narrowly obovate to oblong, 27-51 × 10-20 cm, with 4-10 pairs of leaflets, lowest pair 0.5-2.5 cm above base of petiole, abaxially very or slightly glaucous, venation indistinct on both surfaces; rachis 2-4 mm in diam.; internodes 3-10 cm, decreasing in length apically; leaflets increasing in length but decreasing in width from base to apex, thick, rigid, lowest pair ovate, 1.2-3.5 × 1-2 cm, with 1 or 2 teeth, those above suborbicular to ovate or oblong, 2-10.5 × 2-6 cm, base rounded, oblique, sometimes cordate, margin with 2-6 teeth on each side, apex cuspidate; terminal leaflet much larger, 7-13 × 3.5-10 cm, petiolule 1-6 cm or leaflets appearing sessile because of a basal lobe. Inflorescence erect, 3-9-fascicled racemes, 7-26 cm; bracts at base of inflorescence ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 1.5-4 × 0.7-1.2 cm. Pedicel 4-6 mm; floral bracts broadly ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 3-5 × 2-3 mm, apically obtuse. Sepals yellow; outer sepals ovate, 2.3-2.5 × 1.5-2.5 mm; median sepals elliptic, 5-6 × 3.5-4 mm; inner sepals oblong-elliptic, 6.5-7 × 4-4.5 mm. Petals obovate-elliptic, 6-7 × 3-4 mm, base with distinct glands, apex slightly emarginate, with rounded lobes. Stamens 3.2-4.5 mm; anther connective 1.1-1.3 mm, rounded to truncate. Ovary oblong-ovoid, ca. 3.2 mm; ovules 3 or 4; style short. Berry dark purple, pruinose, ovoid, ca. 1.5 × 1-1.2 cm; persistent style nearly absent. Fl. Sep-Jun of following year, fr. Mar-May. 2n = 28*.
This species is cultivated in Japan, Mexico, the warmer parts of Europe and the United States, and is naturalized in the SE United States.
● Forests, forest margins, weedy slopes, streamsides, roadsides, thickets; 500-2000 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang.