Plant · P-1034

Agarita

Alloberberis trifoliolata

Agarita is a dense, spiny-leaved evergreen shrub of rocky limestone hills, slopes and thickets from south Texas through the Trans-Pecos to southern Arizona and northern Mexico, reaching three to ten feet tall and equally wide. Fragrant yellow flowers cluster along the branches in late winter and early spring, an early nectar source for bees, followed by tart red berries used fresh or in jelly, wine and syrup. It grows on dry, well-drained, rocky or caliche soil in full sun to part shade, tolerates drought once established, and spreads by root suckers to form thickets that give quail and small mammals cover.