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Wavyleaf Silktassel
Garrya elliptica
  
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About Wavyleaf Silktassel (Garrya elliptica) Garrya elliptica (Coast silk-tassel) is a common evergreen shrub native to the coastal ranges of California and southern Oregon, south to Los Angeles County. It 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. Female and male sexual organs of all the Garrya are found on separate plants. This is an example of a native plant that is sufficiently attractive and neat of growing habit to be appealing as a landscape species. It is stocked at many commercial plant nurseries, and is clearly a widely used Garrya for landscape purposes. This plant is sometimes known as Silk Tassel Bush or Wavyleaf Silktassel. All Garrya are associated with warm temperate regions of North America. Coast silk-tassel (sometimes called Wavyleaf silk-tassel) has a multi-furcate branching structure yielding an almost spherical form. The height can attain five meters, but more likely averages three meters 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. The dioecious flowers are concentrated in flower clusters which cascade downward as aments of approximately four to six centimeters in length. While the Coast silk-tassel manifests separate male and female plants, the pendant male catkins 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 leaves 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 twigs are green and moderately stout. 'James Roof' is one popular horticultural variety known for its especially long tassels.
Plant Description
Plant Type
Shrub

Max. Height
6 - 16.4 ft (1.8 - 5 m)

Max. Width
6 - 10 ft (1.8 - 3 m)

Form
Rounded

Growth Rate
Fast, Moderate

Dormancy
Evergreen

Leaves
Gray-green

Flower Color
White, Cream, Green

Flowering Season
Winter
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter


Native Status
Native

Natural Setting
Site Type
Seacliffs, dunes, foothills below 2,000 ft. usually close to the coast where it occurs as part of northern chaparral or coastal scrub, or in the understory of evergreen forest. Also on Santa Cruz Island.

Sun
Part Shade, Sun

Elevation ?
-97' - 5020'

Annual Precip. ?
11.8" - 91.0"

Summer Precip. ?
0.15" - 2.79"

Coldest Month ?
38.4° F - 53.9° F

Hottest Month ?
55.7° F - 78.5° F

Humidity ?
0.01 vpd - 24.98 vpd

Soil Description
Tolerates clay soil

Soil PH
6.0 - 8.0

Soil Toxicity Tolerance
Tolerates Serpentine Soil

Drainage
Fast, Medium, Slow

Cold Tolerance(° F)
Tolerates cold to 0 - 10° F

Sunset Zones ?
4, 5*, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14*, 15*, 16*, 17*, 18, 19, 20*, 21*, 22*, 23*, 24

Companion Plants
Manzanita (Arctostaphylos species), Ceanothus species, Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), Scrub Oak (Quercus berberidifolia), Coffee Berry (Frangula species), Hummingbird Sage (Salvia spathacea), Yerba Buena (Clinopodium douglasii), and Bluff Lettuce (Dudleya farinosa)

Landscaping Information
Ease of Care
moderately easy

Water Requirement ?
Very Low
Extremely Low
Very Low
Low
Moderate - High


Popularity
Moderately Popular

Max. Summer Water ?
3x/month
No Summer Water
1x/month
2x/month
3x/month
1/week
Keep moist


Mulch
Organic with Rocks

Propagation ?
Seeds or cuttings.  For propagating by seed: 3 mos. stratification.

Common uses
Hedges, Deer Resistant

Nursery Availability
Commonly Available

Nurseries
Bay Natives, Buckeye Nursery, California Flora Nursery, Capitol Wholesale Nursery, CNL Native Plant Nursery, CNPS SCV Nursery, Cornflower Farms, East Bay Wilds, Elkhorn Native Plant Nursery, Floral Native Nursery, Forestfarm, Fremontia Horticultural Inc., Friends of Sausal Creek Native Plant Nursery, Gold Rush Nursery, Las Pilitas, Moosa Creek Nursery, Mostly Natives Nursery, Native Here Nursery, North Coast Native Nursery (see Wild Garden Farm & Nursery), O'Donnell's Fairfax Nursery, Oaktown Native Plant Nursery, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, RECON Native Plants, San Marcos Growers, Sonoma Valley Wholesale Nursery, Suncrest Nurseries, Inc, Tree of Life Nursery, Yerba Buena Nursery

Other Names
Common Names
Coast Silktassel, Silk Tassel Bush


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Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links:   Jepson eFlora Taxon Page  CalPhotos  Wikipedia  Calflora


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