Adenostoma sparsifolium

Red shank, ribbon wood, Ribbon Wood

Family: Rosaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Red shank is a California native shrub found in southern Coastal Ranges, eastern Southern California, southern Transverse Ranges, and Peninsular Ranges in dry slopes, flats, and ravines within chaparral and pinyon woodland at elevations of 275 to 2,000 meters. Flowering from July to September, this shrub produces white flowers in open clusters with delicate translucent bracts. Growing 2 to 6 meters tall with distinctive red-brown trunk bark and glabrous twigs, it forms an elegant woodland presence. Its leaves are linear, flexible, and short-erect-hairy, measuring 3.6 to 26.3 millimeters long with subtle glandular surfaces. The fruit is elliptic with a rounded tip, slightly extending beyond the flower's hypanthium.

Habitat: dry slopes, flats, ravines, chaparral, pinyon woodland

Bloom period: Jul-Sep

Elevation: 275-2000 m

Bioregions: s SCoRO, e SCo, s WTR, PR

California counties: San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, Imperial

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.