Leucothoe davisiae

Sierra laurel

Family: Ericaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Sierra laurel is a California native shrub found in the Klamath Ranges, Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, and Warner Mountains in wet areas and bogs at elevations of 400 to 3,000 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces white flowers with corollas 5.5 to 8.5 millimeters long, recurved in axillary clusters. Growing to 1.5 meters tall with slender stems, it forms a compact shrubby habit. Its leaves are leathery, oblong to elliptic, measuring 1.5 to 8 centimeters long with a distinctive dark green appearance. When mature, the plant produces thin-walled fruits less than 6 millimeters wide.

Habitat: Uncommon. Bogs, wet areas

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 400-3000 m

Bioregions: KR, CaRH, SNH, Wrn

California counties: El Dorado, Mariposa, Butte, Sierra, Placer, Tuolumne, Trinity, Nevada, Fresno, Plumas, Siskiyou, Madera, Calaveras, Shasta, Del Norte, Tulare

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