Fraxinus dipetala

California ash

Family: Oleaceae · Type: shrub · Native

California ash is a native shrub found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, Cascade Ranges, Sierra Nevada Foothills, central and southern Sierra Nevada, central Western, Transverse, and Peninsular Ranges in canyons, slopes, chaparral, and oak/pine woodland at elevations of 100 to 1,300 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces cream-white flowers in small clusters with two distinctive petals. Growing 1.5 to 3 meters tall with smooth gray bark and cylindric to four-angled twigs, it forms a dense shrubby structure. Its compound leaves feature 5 to 7 leaflets, each 2 to 4.5 centimeters long, dark green on top and pale underneath, with serrated edges. The fruit is a distinctive flat, broadly winged structure 20 to 32 millimeters long, resembling a slender paddle.

Habitat: Canyons, slopes, chaparral, oak/pine woodland

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 100-1300 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoR, CaR, SNF, c&amps SN, CW, TR, PR.

California counties: Los Angeles, Orange, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Lake, Fresno, Riverside, Tehama, Butte, Lassen, Tulare, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Merced, Stanislaus, San Bernardino, Mariposa, Madera, Contra Costa, Kern, Monterey, San Benito, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Mendocino, Nevada, Solano, Sonoma, Napa, Shasta, Siskiyou, Yolo, San Diego

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