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Garrya elliptica
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Wavyleaf Silktassel
( Garrya elliptica )
Garrya elliptica
More Photos at CalPhotos
More Info at Jepson eFlora
Calflora
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23 Nurseries Carry This Plant
About Wavyleaf Silktassel (Garrya elliptica)
23 Nurseries Carry This Plant
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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. To learn more, visit the Jepson Herbarium's YouTube channel and watch a short video about this species:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFVGFzBwczw
Plant Description
Plant Type
Shrub
Size
6 - 16.4 ft tall
6 - 10 ft wide
Form
Rounded
Growth Rate
Fast, Moderate
Dormancy
Evergreen
Flower Color
White, Cream, Green
Flowering Season
Winter
Landscaping Information
Sun
Part Shade, Full Sun
Moisture
Very Low
Summer Irrigation
Max 3x / month once established
Nurseries
Carried by 23
Ease of Care
moderately easy
Cold Tolerance
Tolerates cold to 0 - 10° F
Soil Drainage
Fast, Medium, Slow
Soil Description
Tolerates clay soil. Tolerates Serpentine Soil. Soil PH: 6.0 - 8.0
Common uses
Hedges, Deer Resistant
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
)
Propagation
?
Seeds or cuttings. For propagating by seed: 3 mos. stratification.
Sunset Zones
?
4, 5*, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14*, 15*, 16*, 17*, 18, 19, 20*, 21*, 22*, 23*, 24
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.
Climate
Annual Precipitation: 11.8" - 91.0", Summer Precipitation: 0.15" - 2.79", Coldest Month: 38.4" - 53.9", Hottest Month: 55.7" - 78.5", Humidity: 0.01" - 24.98", Elevation: -97" - 5020"
Alternative Names
Common Names
: Coast Silktassel, Silk Tassel Bush
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Wavyleaf Silktassel
Garrya elliptica
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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