Chrysolepis sempervirens

Bush chinquapin

Family: Fagaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Bush chinquapin is a California native shrub found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, northern California Ranges, Sierra Nevada, southern California mountains, San Bernardino Mountains, Peninsular Ranges, and western Modoc Plateau in rocky slopes, conifer forest, and chaparral at elevations of 700 to 3,300 meters. Flowering from July to August, this plant produces golden-rusty colored flowers in small burrs approximately 2 to 3.5 centimeters in diameter. Growing as a shrub up to 3 meters tall with a rounded top and relatively smooth, thin bark, it develops a distinctive rounded crown. Its leaves are elliptic, 2 to 8 centimeters long, with dull green upper surfaces and golden to rusty undersides, featuring a tapered to rounded base and obtuse to rounded tips. The fruits form spiny burrs containing nuts 8 to 13 millimeters long, offering a distinctive seed dispersal mechanism.

Habitat: Rocky slopes, conifer forest, chaparral

Bloom period: Jul-Aug

Elevation: 700-3300 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRH, CaRH, SNH, SnGb, SnBr, PR, w MP

California counties: Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Plumas, El Dorado, Riverside, Siskiyou, Fresno, Inyo, Kern, Tulare, Trinity, Mono, Tuolumne, Placer, Butte, Nevada, Shasta, Alpine, Modoc, Mariposa, Madera, Amador, Yuba, Humboldt, Tehama, Sierra, Calaveras, Lassen, Del Norte, Contra Costa, San Mateo, Marin, Lake

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