Berberis ulicina

I am not clear about the habit of the palnt from your pictures.

Delighted to view some quality close-ups of what I understand to be B.ulicina. I have not seen this species myself in Ladakh, just images from Nubra and towards Kangi La but only distant shots. It superficially reminded me of Berberis mucrifolia I had seen in Upper Kali Gandaki/ Mustang in Nepal. Stewart described B.ulicina as the most xerophytic of Berberis in Pakistan & Kashmir, usually at the highest levels. I have seen other photos of the fruit of it being a similar colour. Perhaps the description in FOP was based upon old/ dried fruits. Many plants have fruits which change colour as they age, sometimes becoming black. The fruits may also change colour when dried and kept in herbaria, so unless the colour is noted in accompanying field notes to pressed specimens, the descriptions are based upon the dried specimens. Stewart only recorded B.ulicina from Ladakh but Dickore & Klimes also list B.orthobotrys and B.parkeriana. Berberis is a very, very difficult genus identification-wise, which would benefit from further studies/revision. Do not think either of these species would be confused with B.ulicina.