Garrya elliptica
Encyclopedia
Garrya elliptica is a common evergreen shrub native to the coastal ranges of California
and southern Oregon
, that reaches a height of two to five meters. It is one of a small biological family of approximately twenty known species in the family Garryaceae, most of which are Garrya
. All Garrya are associated with warm temperate regions of North America
. Female and male sex
ual organs
of all the Garrya are found on separate plants.
flowers are concentrated in inflorescence
s which cascade downward as ament
s of approximately four to six centimeters in length. While the Coast silk-tassel manifests separate male and female plants, the pendant male catkin
s are much more showy and are grey-green and up to 30 centimeters long; the female ones are shorter and silver-grey. Although the flowers bloom in January and February, dried bract
s remain on the tree well into summer as light gray decorations. The plant has smooth dark bark
, dark-greenish when young, but with age the bark roughens. New twig
s are green and moderately stout.
For pistillate flower
s, above each small bract
there is a solitary flower inside the inflorescence. This plant produces tiny dark seed
s that can become airborne as small fluffy wind-blown cotton .The ripened purplish black fruit
of about one centimeter in diameter has a hard desiccated coating, but is rather fleshy on the interior. In the case of stamen
ate infloresences, there are a total of four stamens per flower; moreover, above each bract pair there is a triplet of flowers. The cultivar "James roof" has catkins up to 12 inches in length
which range in length from six to twelve millimeters. For identification purposes Congdon silk-tassel (Garrya congdonii) is most closely related. Congdon silk-tassel has the same leaf appearance, but leaf hairs are distinguishable with a hand lens and both leaf blades and petiole
s are about two thirds the size of Coast silk-tassel. Both Fremont silk-tassel (Garrya fremontii) and Ashy silk-tassel (Garrya flavescens) have similar fruit characteristics, but have a flat leaf margin.
; the main associations are coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion
, Northern coastal scrub
, Mixed evergreen coastal forest
and Northern coastal sage scrub
. This plant can tolerate moderately heavy clay
soils and serpentine
areas, but likes soils pH
to lie in the range of six to eight.
This plant is not grazed to a great degree by deer or rabbits, and is hardy to cold temperatures of about 15 degrees Fahrenheit. It is moderately drought tolerant, but is more luxuriant with rainfall of about 25 inches per annum. Coast silk-tassel is usually found at elevations above 200 meters. This species is usually found within the mountains of the Pacific Coast
range, such as Montara
Mountain, San Bruno Mountain
and the coast range in Napa County.
with a neat growing habit, and is a widely used Garrya for landscape purposes.
Cultivars include:
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and southern Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, that reaches a height of two to five meters. It is one of a small biological family of approximately twenty known species in the family Garryaceae, most of which are Garrya
Garrya
Garrya is a genus of about 18 species of flowering plants in the family Garryaceae, native to North and Central America and the Caribbean. Common names include silktassel, and tassel bush....
. All Garrya are associated with warm temperate regions of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. Female and male sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
ual organs
Organ (anatomy)
In biology, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in structural unit to serve a common function. Usually there is a main tissue and sporadic tissues . The main tissue is the one that is unique for the specific organ. For example, main tissue in the heart is the myocardium, while sporadic are...
of all the Garrya are found on separate plants.
Growth habit
Garrya elliptica, Coast silk-tassel, has a multi-furcate branching structure yielding an almost spherical form. The height can attain five meters-15 feet, but more likely averages three meters-10 feet in the wild. Coast silk-tassel, as all the genus Garrya, have opposite leaves that have a tough leathery feel, glossy green on top, but paler and duller on the underside.Flowers
The dioeciousDioecious
Dioecy is the property of a group of biological organisms that have males and females, but not members that have organs of both sexes at the same time. I.e., those whose individual members can usually produce only one type of gamete; each individual organism is thus distinctly female or male...
flowers are concentrated in inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
s which cascade downward as ament
Ament
Ament may refer to:* Ament , a cylindrical flower cluster* Ament , an ancient Egyptian fertility goddessPeople with the surname Ament:* Jeff Ament , American rock bassist* Pat Ament , American rock climber...
s of approximately four to six centimeters in length. While the Coast silk-tassel manifests separate male and female plants, the pendant male catkin
Catkin
A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster, with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollinated but sometimes insect pollinated . They contain many, usually unisexual flowers, arranged closely along a central stem which is often drooping...
s are much more showy and are grey-green and up to 30 centimeters long; the female ones are shorter and silver-grey. Although the flowers bloom in January and February, dried bract
Bract
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Bracts are often different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture...
s remain on the tree well into summer as light gray decorations. The plant has smooth dark bark
Bark
Bark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner...
, dark-greenish when young, but with age the bark roughens. New twig
Twig
A twig is a small thin terminal branch of a woody plant. Twigs are critically important in identification of trees, shrubs and vines, especially in wintertime. The buds on the twig are an important diagnostic characteristic, as are the abscission scars where the leaves have fallen away...
s are green and moderately stout.
For pistillate flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s, above each small bract
Bract
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Bracts are often different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture...
there is a solitary flower inside the inflorescence. This plant produces tiny dark seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s that can become airborne as small fluffy wind-blown cotton .The ripened purplish black fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
of about one centimeter in diameter has a hard desiccated coating, but is rather fleshy on the interior. In the case of stamen
Stamen
The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...
ate infloresences, there are a total of four stamens per flower; moreover, above each bract pair there is a triplet of flowers. The cultivar "James roof" has catkins up to 12 inches in length
Leaves
The unique characteristics of Garrya elliptica are its waxy convex leaves with wavy leaf margins, coupled with dense individual hairs on the leaf undersides that are scarcely distinguishable with a hand lens. Its leaf blades are six to eight centimeters in length, and has petiolesPetiole (botany)
In botany, the petiole is the stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly surround the...
which range in length from six to twelve millimeters. For identification purposes Congdon silk-tassel (Garrya congdonii) is most closely related. Congdon silk-tassel has the same leaf appearance, but leaf hairs are distinguishable with a hand lens and both leaf blades and petiole
Petiole (botany)
In botany, the petiole is the stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly surround the...
s are about two thirds the size of Coast silk-tassel. Both Fremont silk-tassel (Garrya fremontii) and Ashy silk-tassel (Garrya flavescens) have similar fruit characteristics, but have a flat leaf margin.
Distribution and habitat
Garrya elliptica is found in several plant communities, principally in drier coastal California and southern Oregon no more than 20 miles from the Pacific OceanPacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
; the main associations are coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion
California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion
The California coastal sage and chaparral, a sub-ecoregion of the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion, is found in southwestern California and northwestern Baja California in Mexico.-Location:...
, Northern coastal scrub
Northern coastal scrub
Northern coastal scrub is a scrubland plant community of California and Oregon. It occurs along the Pacific Coast from Point Sur on the Central California coast in Monterey County, California, to southern Oregon...
, Mixed evergreen coastal forest
California mixed evergreen forest
California mixed evergreen forest is an ecoregion, of the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome, that occurs in the Pacific Coast Ranges of southwestern Oregon and California, and in the Coast, Transverse, and Peninsular Ranges in California...
and Northern coastal sage scrub
Coastal sage scrub
Coastal sage scrub is a low scrubland plant community found in the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of coastal California and northern Baja California. It is characterized by low-growing aromatic, and drought-deciduous shrubs adapted to the semi-arid Mediterranean climate of the...
. This plant can tolerate moderately heavy clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
soils and serpentine
Serpentine soil
A serpentine soil is derived from ultramafic rocks, in particular serpentinite, a rock formed by the hydration and metamorphic transformation of ultramafic rock from the Earth's mantle....
areas, but likes soils pH
PH
In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at . Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline...
to lie in the range of six to eight.
This plant is not grazed to a great degree by deer or rabbits, and is hardy to cold temperatures of about 15 degrees Fahrenheit. It is moderately drought tolerant, but is more luxuriant with rainfall of about 25 inches per annum. Coast silk-tassel is usually found at elevations above 200 meters. This species is usually found within the mountains of the Pacific Coast
Pacific Coast
A country's Pacific coast is the part of its coast bordering the Pacific Ocean.-The Americas:Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western border.* Geography of Canada* Geography of Chile* Geography of Colombia...
range, such as Montara
Montara
*Montara, California**Montara State Beach*Montara, Kansas*Montara Mountain*Montara oil spill*Montara an album by Bobby Hutcherson...
Mountain, San Bruno Mountain
San Bruno Mountain
San Bruno Mountain in northern San Mateo County, California is the northernmost part of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Most of the mountain lies within the San Bruno Mountain State Park, a unique open-space island in the midst of the San Francisco Peninsula's urbanization. Next to the state park is the...
and the coast range in Napa County.
Cultivation
Garrya elliptica is appealing as a ornamental plantOrnamental plant
Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...
with a neat growing habit, and is a widely used Garrya for landscape purposes.
Cultivars include:
- G.elliptica "Evie"
- G.elliptica "James Roof"