Garrya buxifolia

Boxleaf silk tassel

Family: Garryaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Boxleaf silk tassel is a California native shrub found in northwestern California in chaparral and yellow-pine forest at elevations of 150 to 2,100 meters. Flowering from February to April, this plant produces discrete flowers in characteristic silk tassel-like clusters. Growing as a compact shrub less than 3 meters tall with dense, somewhat rigid branching, it develops a distinctive form in its native habitats. Its leaves are ovate to obovate-elliptic, 14 to 66 millimeters long, with dense grayish-white hairs on the underside and flat margins that give the foliage a textured, compact appearance. The plant produces glabrous fruits that complement its dense, structural growth habit.

Habitat: Chaparral to yellow-pine forest

Bloom period: Feb-Apr

Elevation: 150-2100 m

Bioregions: NW

California counties: Humboldt, Trinity, Del Norte, Mendocino, Siskiyou, Tehama, Lake, Placer, San Bernardino

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