Observations by danielleflock

Has fewer leaflets (5-9) than it's cousin the Dull Oregon Grape. More rugged in appearance. The holly-like leaves make an excellent barrier hedge. The plant grows by spreading from underground roots. Bright yellow clustered flowers followed by purple fruits. Blooms in spring.

Large tree up to 60 meters tall, with drooping leader; mature trees often fluted and buttressed at base; branches tend to spread or droop slightly and then turn upward (J-shaped); branchlets spraylike, strongly flattened horizontally; bark grey to reddish brown, tearing off in long fibrous strips; wood aromatic.

Leaves: Scale-like, opposite pairs in 4 rows, the leaves in one pair folded, the leaves in the other not, closely pressed to stem in overlapping shingled arrangement that looks like a flattened braid; glossy yellowish green, turning brown and shedding on branches 3-4 years old.

Cones: Pollen cones minute, numerous, reddish; seed cones with 8-12 scales, egg-shaped, about 1 cm long, in loose clusters, green when immature, becoming brown, woody and turned upward; seeds winged.

Large, to 70 meters tall (sometimes 80-90 meters); crown of young trees pyramidal with a stiffly erect leader; branches spreading to drooping; buds sharply pointed; bark ultimately very thick, fluted, ridged, rough and dark brown.

Leaves: needles flat, yellowish-green. 2-3 cm long, with pointed tips, 1 groove on upper surface and 2 white bands of stomata on lower surface, spirally arranged, leave small, flat scar on twig upon falling; buds sharp pointed.

Cones: Pollen cones small, reddish-brown; young seed cones hanging, oval, 5-10 cm long, green at flowering, turning reddish-brown to grey; scales papery; bracts prominently 3 forked, extend beyond scales.

Plants large, robust, somewhat shiny, up to 20 cm long; stems twice pinnately branched, with abundant small, green filaments (paraphyllia) visible with a hand lens; annual growth increments visible as individual, arched segments, each arising just behind tip of previous year's.

Leaves: 2-4 mm long; branch leaves narrowly egg-shaped, sharply pointed; stem leaves elliptic below, gradually tapering to a longer, wavy, slender point; midribs 2, inconspicuous; cells elongate.

Sporophytes: Not uncommon, growing from the side of the stem; capsules inclined, smooth, curved and cylindrical.

Large, often multi-stemmed, to 35 meters tall; young bark green and smooth, older bark grey-brown, ridged, and often covered with mosses, lichens and ferns.

Leaves: Opposite, deciduous, 5-lobed maple leaves, 15-30 cm across, dark green above, paler below, turning yellow in the autumn; leaf stalk exudes milky juice when cut.

Flowers: Greenish-yellow, about 3 mm across; numerous on short stalks in hanging cylindrical cluster; appear with or before the leaves.

Fruits: Golden-brown, paired winged seeds ('samaras'), 3-6 cm long; wings spread in a V-shape.

Shrub or scraggly small tree to 7 meters tall, the sprawling branches often rooting and forming new 'colonies'; stems pale green, becoming dull brown with age.

Maple leaves, opposite, deciduous, round, 5-12 cm across, 7-9 lobed, toothed, hairy on the lower surface, at least along the veins; becoming either golden (in the shade) or bright red (in full sun) in the autumn.

Flowers: White, 6-9 mm broad; in clusters at the end of shoots.

Fruits: Winged fruits 2-4 cm long; green becoming reddish or brown in widely spreading (almost straight line) pairs.

Erect, rhisomatous, evergreen, stiff-branched shrub, to 60 cm tall; leaves like holly; bark and wood yellowish.

Leaves: Clustered, long, alternate, turning reddish or purplish in winter, with 9-19 leathery leaflets, somewhat shiny on both surfaces; leaflets oblong to egg-shaped, with several prominent spiny teeth.

Flowers: Bright yellow, many-flowered erect clusters to 20 cm long.

Fruits: Blue berries about 1 cm across with few large seeds and whitish bloom, in enlogated clusters, edible.

Large (to 1.5 meters tall, but smaller in the north), evergreen, with erect leaves forming a crown from a stout, woody, scaly rhizome.

Leaves: Stipe dry-scaly; blade lance-shaped, erect to arching, once-pinnate; leaflets alternate, pointed, sharp toothed with incurved spine-tips, each with a small lobe pointing forward at the bottom.

Sori: Large, circular, about halfway between the midvein and the margin; indusium round with fringed margins, centrally attached.

Fronds large, solitary, erect, deciduous, to 3 (sometimes 5) meters tall, rhizomes spreading, much-branched below ground surface, clothed with numerous hairs.

Leaves: Blades triangular, 2-3 times pinnate, hairy, stipes stout, straw colored to greenish, longer than the blades, leaflets 10 or more pairs, mostly opposite, the lowest pair narrowly to broadly triangular, upper ones progressively reduced and lance-shaped; ultimate segments round toothed, margins rolled under.

Sori: Marginal, continuous, covered by rolled leaf margin, indusium not evident.