Oregon grape

American  

noun

1. an evergreen shrub, Mahonia aquifolium, of the barberry family, of the western coast of the U.S., having small blue berries and yellow flowers that are the state flower of Oregon.

2. the berry itself.

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Oregon grape British  

noun

1. an evergreen berberidaceous shrub, Mahonia aquifolium, of NW North America, having yellow fragrant flowers and small blue edible berries

2. the berry of this shrub

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Etymology

Origin of Oregon grape

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Oregon grape

Dix organized work parties to clear paths and applied for a $2,200 King Conservation District grant to landscape and replant it with native plants — bunchberry, Oregon grape, flowering currant, salal.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 5, 2023

Sword ferns battle it out next to salal and Oregon grape, beneath draping Western red cedar and stout Douglas firs.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 26, 2022

Oregon grape to strengthen the liver, fireweed gel that helps with burns, cottonwood buds for healing cuts and scrapes, medicine for poor circulation and diabetes — the healing was all around us.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 11, 2022

I saw all the different shrubs—quaking-asp and buck-brush and Oregon grape and service-berry and hawthorn and wild currant—and I thought to myself that this would be some garden in September.

From Virginia of Elk Creek Valley by Chase, Mary Ellen

I think the Snowys are also about the eastern limit of the little broad-leaved evergreen called the Oregon grape, that I believe every one in Minnesota can grow for Christmas greens.

From Trees, Fruits and Flowers of Minnesota, 1916 Embracing the Transactions of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society,Volume 44, from December 1, 1915, to December 1, 1916, Including the Twelve Numbers of "The Minnesota Horticulturist" for 1916 by Latham, A. W.