Common Name:
Underway Leatherleaf Mahonia

Scientific Name:
Mahonia bealei 'Underway'

Plant Description:

The Underway leatherleaf Mahonia is a great winter-flowering evergreen. It's leaves are leathery, thick and pinnately compound. This plant is characterized by its stalks of flowers that come out in December and flower in late December into January. The Underway Leatherleaf Mahonia is versatile and needs well-drained soil. It will tolerate partial shade and makes a great barrier plant in the landscape.

Plant Profile and Needs:

SIZE: 6 to 10'(12') high.

HABIT: Clumsy, upright, coarse, evergreen shrub.

LEAF COLOR: Dull dark to blue-green.

FLOWERS: Lemon yellow and extremely fragrant, March-April, 3 to 6" high and 6 to 12" wide inflorescence; flowers open from the base to the apex and are not as vivid in color or as showy from a distance as M . aquifolium.

FRUIT: Fruit is a bluish, 1/3 to 1/2" long berry maturing in July-August; the fruits assume a bloomy, almost "robin's egg" blue color as they pass toward maturation; the fruits are especially attractive and occur in great numbers; apparently the birds love the fruits since they are often removed shortly after
ripening; also, numerous seedlings develop in out-of-the-way places where only birds could disseminate the seeds.