The bark is covered with 3 to 5 branched spines, which are bracts or modified leaves.

The leaves are oval, arranged in fascicles on short peduncles originated in the axils of the spines.

The leaves are thick, leathery, similar to the size of the spines, and 1 to 5 cm long.

They form raceme inflorescence and make clusters of 3 to 9 flowers attached in a long panicle.

[2] The taxon was first described by Pierre Edmond Boissier in 1839 as Berberis vulgaris var.

In 1852, Boissier and Georges François Reuter described Berberis hispanica as a separate species.

[3] In 1961, Vernon Heywood treated the taxon as a subspecies, B. vulgaris subsp.

australis, rather than as a variety or species, a treatment accepted by Plants of the World Online as of March 2024[update].