Alloberberis C.C. Yu & K.F. Chung. Subfamily: Berberidoideae.
A genus of about 11 species, shrubs and small trees, of sw. United States and Mexico. It became fashionable in the 1990s to 2010s to merge Mahonia into Berberis, because of a group of species then placed in Mahonia that rendered it paraphyletic. Yu & Chung (2017) analyzed the phylogeny of the Berberidoideae and proposed a 4-genus classification (Berberis, Mahonia, Alloberberis, and Moranothamnus [not in our region]), which we here follow. "Because of morphological and ecological distinctness of these four clades and their deep stem divergences equivalent to other genera of Berberidaceae, we propose a new classification of Berberis s.l. by applying a strict definition of Berberis (≡ Berberis s.str.), reinstating Mahonia (≡ core Mahonia), and proposing the two new genera Alloberberis nom. & stat. nov. (≡ Mahonia sect. Horridae) and Moranothamnus gen. nov. (≡ B. claireae). This revised classification is consistent with the traditional perception of Berberis and results in a monophyletic Mahonia, maintaining the stable usage of these two household names in both academic and non-academic communities."
References: Chen et al. (2020a); Kim, Kim, & Landrum (2004); Loconte (1993) In Kubitzki, Rohwer, & Bittrich (1993); Whittemore (1997d) In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (1997); Yu & Chung (2017). Show full citations.
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