Frangula californica subsp. tomentella

Family: Rhamnaceae · Type: shrub · Native

California coffeeberry is a California native shrub found in southern Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, California Regional Forests, Sierra Nevada Foothills, northern Sierra Nevada, Sacramento Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, southern Coast Ranges, and southwestern California in chaparral and woodland habitats at elevations below 2,200 meters. Flowering from January to April, this plant produces small greenish-white flowers in clusters along its branches. Growing with gray, woolly twigs and reaching heights of 1 to 3 meters, it forms a dense, rounded shrub with a distinctive branching structure. Its leaves are narrowly elliptic, 3 to 7 centimeters long, with a dull green upper surface and a velvety or silvery underside, featuring an acute tip and occasionally blunt-toothed margins. The shrub's soft, dense foliage and compact growth form make it a distinctive component of California's Mediterranean woodland landscapes.

Habitat: Chaparral, woodland

Bloom period: Jan-Apr

Elevation: < 2200 m

Bioregions: s KR, NCoR, CaRF, SNF, n SNH, ScV, SnFrB, SCoR, SW

California counties: Monterey, Kern, Los Angeles, San Diego, Stanislaus, Calaveras, Mariposa, Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo, San Benito, Nevada, Butte, Ventura, Placer, Merced, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Tuolumne, Tehama, Yuba, Colusa, Shasta, Tulare, Amador, San Joaquin, El Dorado, Alameda, Sutter, Lake, Mendocino, Inyo, Napa, Trinity, Riverside, San Mateo, Contra Costa, San Bernardino, Yolo, Fresno, Glenn, Sonoma, Sacramento, Plumas, Orange, Madera

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