The leaves are leathery, oblong or ovate, 4 to 9 cm long and 2 to 4 cm wide. The apex of the leaves has three hard teeth. The central teeth are often retrorse, the base is round or nearly truncated, each side has one to two teeth, sometimes the whole leaf is dark green, shiny, the back is light green, and both sides are hairless.
The leaves of Mahonia have the shape of obovate or obovate lanceolate, 10 to 28cm long, 8 to 18cm wide, with 2 to 5 pairs of leaflets, dark green or dark green on the top, light yellow on the back, sometimes pale white.
The flower is light yellow and the petals are oval.
There are 4 to 10 clusters of the 10 main flower racemes, 3 to 7 cm long, 2 to 2.5 cm long pedicels, yellow flowers and long round petals.
