Shrub, 3-4 m tall; stem terete, glabrous, pale yellow, obscurely or very minutely verruculose; internodes 2.5-4.5 cm long; spines mostly simple, rarely 3-fid, 5-10 mm long. Leaves obovate-elliptic, 3 - 6 (-7.5) cm long, 1-2.5 (-3) cm broad, subsessile to very shortly petioled, usually 4-8 spinose-dentate at margin, pale, slightly reticulately veined. Racemes 2-4 cm long, 15-25-flowered, rigid, rarely slightly compound. Flowers 10-12 mm across, pale yellow with petals slightly larger than the inner sepals; pedicels 5-10 mm long in fruit, stout. Prophylls c. 1 mm long. Outer sepals c. 2 mm long, ovate; middle ones c. twice and the inner sepals c. thrice as long, obovate. Petals c. 7 mm long, 4.5 mm broad, obovate with retuse apices and somewhat clawed base with a pair of marginal glands. Stamens c. 5.5 mm long with subapiculate apices. Berries oblong-globose, 7-9 mm long, 6-7 mm broad, black, pruinose-white; style 1 mm long; seeds 3-4, oblong-ellipsoid, 3-4 mm long.

Fl. Per.: April-May.

Type: India, Jaunsar, hills between Tons and Gisi rivers, 8000 ft., immature fruits, May 1875, Brandis 746 (K).

Distribution: W. Himalaya (Simla to Tehri and Kumaon), rare in Kashmir.

Another very similar species, Berberis lycioides Stapf, with narrower leaves, longer racemes, berries 10-12 mm long, oblong-ovoid, and petals entire and shor¬ter than inner sepals, may also occur within our area.