Abstract:The variation patterns of the leaf, petal and fruit of Berberis pruinosa Franch. were studied from populations in Xishan Mountain of Kunming City and Yulongxueshan Mountain of Lijiang City, Yunnan Province, China. The abaxial surface of young leaves is densely pruinose, but the mature leaves, especially those in autumn and winter are almost abaxially glabrous and grey green, because the pruinose layers had fallen away. Although two basic variation patterns of the apex of petals are found in B. pruinosa, including entire and incised petals, however, they are consistent within populations. The ripe fruits of B. pruinosa are purplish black with a conspicuous and stable pruinose layer. In combination with studies of literatures and plant specimens, B. pruinosa var. barresiana Ahrendt, B. pruinosa var. brevifolia Ahrendt, B. pruinosa var. longifolia Ahrendt and B. pruinosa var. serratifolia Ahrendt are all treated as synonyms of B. pruinosa. In addition, a lectotype, i.e. Delavay 493 (P00716556), is designated here for B. pruinosa.
