It is native to a mountainous region of the Sierra Madre Occidental in the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora.

[1] Type locale for B. pimana is the village of Nabogame, 18 km northwest of Yepachic, Chihuahua.

Berberis pimana grows in moist, shaded areas, mostly along streambanks.

[2] Berberis pimana is a deciduous shrub up to 1.5 m tall, with compound leaves thinner than those of most evergreen species of the genus.

[1] The compound leaves place this species in the group sometimes segregated as the genus Mahonia.