Ptelea crenulata

California hoptree

Family: Rutaceae · Type: shrub · Native

California hoptree is a native shrub found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada Foothills, Sutter Buttes, San Joaquin Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, and Peninsular Ranges in scrub and woodland habitats at elevations generally below 1,050 meters. Flowering from April to May, this plant produces fragrant white flowers with petals 4 to 5 millimeters long in flat-topped clusters. Growing up to 5 meters tall with deciduous branches, it has a distinctive branching structure. Its compound leaves consist of three leaflets 2 to 7 centimeters long, ranging from lanceolate to obovate, with smooth upper surfaces and slightly hairy undersides. The fruit is a straw-colored, winged structure 1 to 2 centimeters long with a distinctive notched tip.

Habitat: Scrub, woodland

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: generally < 1050 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRI, CaR, SNF, ScV (Sutter Buttes), SnJV, SnFrB, PR.

California counties: Butte, El Dorado, Tulare, Lake, Tehama, Contra Costa, Amador, Fresno, Mariposa, Merced, Monterey, Santa Clara, Shasta, Sutter, Alameda, Solano, Los Angeles, Calaveras, Siskiyou, Orange, Sacramento, Napa, Placer, Colusa, Yolo

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