Crataegus gaylussacia

Klamath hawthorn

Family: Rosaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Klamath hawthorn is a native shrub found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, and northern central Coast Counties in California, growing along streamsides in meadows, scrub, and forest at elevations of 30 to 1,250 meters. Flowering from May to June, this plant produces white flowers approximately 12 to 13 millimeters wide with pink anthers. Growing with distinctive thorns 8 to 12 millimeters long, the shrub develops branches with short-shoots bearing wide-elliptic to ovate leaves. Its leaves are 3 to 8 centimeters long with wedge-shaped bases, ranging from unlobed to shallowly lobed and varying from thin to somewhat leathery in texture. The fruit is a nearly spherical deep purple to black drupe about 10 to 12 millimeters in diameter, containing 3 to 5 stones.

Habitat: Streamsides in meadows, scrub, forest

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: 30-1250 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoR, CaR, SNH, n CCo (Marin Co.)

California counties: Sonoma, Marin, Siskiyou, Shasta, Humboldt, Trinity, Plumas, Del Norte

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