Berberidaceae

The Berberidaceae are a family of 18 genera of flowering plants commonly called the barberry family. This family is in the order Ranunculales. The family contains about 700 known species,^[1] of which the majority are in the genus Berberis. The species include trees, shrubs and perennial herbaceous plants.

Berberidaceae
Berberis darwinii shoot with flowers
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Ranunculales
Family:	Berberidaceae Juss.
Genera
See text

Taxonomy

The APG IV system of 2016 recognises the family and places it in the order Ranunculales in the clade eudicots.^[2]

In some older treatments of the family, Berberidaceae only included four genera (Berberis, Epimedium, Mahonia, Vancouveria), with the other genera treated in separate families, Leonticaceae (Bongardia, Caulophyllum, Gymnospermium, Leontice), Nandinaceae (Nandina), and Podophyllaceae (Achlys, Diphylleia, Dysosma, Jeffersonia, Podophyllum, Ranzania, Sinopodophyllum).

Mahonia is very closely related to Berberis, and included in it by many botanists. However, recent DNA-based phylogenetic research has reinstated Mahonia, though with a handful of species transferred into the newly described genera Alloberberis (formerly Mahonia section Horridae) and Moranothamnus (formerly Mahonia claireae).^[3] Species of Mahonia and Berberis can be hybridised, with the hybrids being classified in the genus × Mahoberberis.^[4][5]

Diphyllaea is closely related to or perhaps embedded within Podophyllum. Instead of the current trend to subdivide Podophyllum into three genera (Podophyllum, plus Dysosma and Sinopodophyllum), inclusion of Diphyllaea in a larger Podophyllum is equally warranted.

Genera are displayed in the following cladogram

	Alloberberis C. C. Yu & K. F. Chung Berberis L. including Mahonia Nutt. — barberry Moranothamnus Ranzania T. Itô (Japan) Nandina Thunb. — heavenly bamboo (eastern Asia from the Himalaya to Japan) Caulophyllum Michx. — blue cohosh Gymnospermium Spach
	Bongardia C. A. Mey. Achlys DC. — vanilla-leaf Diphylleia Michx. (southern Appalachian Mountains, northern Japan, and China) Dysosma (China) Podophyllum L. — mayapple (North America and Asia) Sinopodophyllum (Afghanistan, Bhutan, northern India, Kashmir, Nepal, Pakistan, Tibet, and western China) Epimedium L. Vancouveria Morren & Decne. — inside-out flower (western U.S.) Jeffersonia W. Bartram — twinleaf Plagiorhegma Maxim.
	Leontice L. (Middle East to Central and Western Asia)

Gallery

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  Berberis pinnata (California barberry)
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  Berberis swaseyi
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  Berberis darwinii (calafate or michay)
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  Berberis empetrifolia, fruit