Frangula californica
Frangula rubra
California buckthorn, California coffee berry, coffeeberry
red buckthorn, Sierra coffee berry
usually persistent, rarely deciduous;
petiole 3–10 mm;
blade bright green to green, gray-green, yellowish green, or yellow abaxially, dark green to yellowish green or greenish white adaxially, not glaucous, ovate, elliptic, or oblong-elliptic, 2–10 cm, distinctly coriaceous, base cuneate to rounded or subcordate, margins entire or serrate, serrulate, or dentate-serrulate, apex acute or acuminate to obtuse, rounded, or truncate, abaxial surface glabrate or densely and closely white stellate-hairy, adaxial surface glabrous, glabrate, or sparsely hirsutulous;
secondary veins 7–11(–12) pairs.
deciduous;
petiole 2–12 mm;
blade light to bright green abaxially, green or dull green adaxially, narrowly elliptic to oblong or obovate, 1.5–8.5 cm, ± herbaceous, base rounded to obtuse or acute, margins entire or serrulate to denticulate, apex acute to obtuse or rounded, surfaces glabrous or short-puberulent, or abaxial puberulent on midrib and veins;
secondary veins (7–)8–11 pairs.
umbels, pedunculate, 5–60-flowered.
umbels, pedunculate, (2–)4–15-flowered.
10–20 mm.
1–12 mm.
black, globose or slightly elongate, 10–15 mm;
stones 2–3.
black, globose or pyriform, 8–12 mm;
stones 2(–3).
2–3-parted.
2-lobed.
Frangula californica
Frangula rubra
Subspecies 6 (6 in the flora).
Frangula californica grows throughout most of California, and the subspecies are more or less separated geographically, but intermediates exist among all the subspecies except subsp. ursina (C. B. Wolf 1938). In California, subsp. ursina occurs only in eastern San Bernardino County. Subspecies californica is the most coastal, growing from the western Klamath Mountains south to the Agua Tibia Mountain in southern California. Subspecies occidentalis is characteristic of mafic and ultramafic substrates in northwest California; plants on other substrates approach subsp. californica, but leaf blades are equally green (not yellow-green) on both surfaces. Wolf reported that a form of R. californica found abundantly from the San Francisco Bay region to Santa Barbara County has leaves that are whitened beneath, but the hairs are much shorter than in subsp. tomentella. Plants in Los Angeles and Orange counties have leaf blades with sparse (not dense) tomentum and a few long hairs beneath as in subsp. cuspidata. Intermediates between subspp. crassifolia and tomentella are rare in northern California, but many plants in San Diego County that Wolf considered subsp. tomentella have narrowly to broadly elliptic leaf blades, thus resembling subsp. crassifolia in the Inner Coast Range.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Subspecies 5 (5 in the flora).
The Frangula rubra complex is a group of closely related populations that needs study. In Nevada, they occur only in Douglas and Washoe counties. Descriptions by C. B. Wolf (1938) provide only a single distinct character to separate the subspecies, and he reported much intergradations between subsp. obtusissima and all the other subspecies. Field and herbarium studies argue for the recognition of infraspecific taxa despite the intermediates.
Subspecies yosemitana and Frangula californica subsp. cuspidata grow along the east side of the Sierra Nevada and can be easily confused. Plants of both taxa can be deciduous, but Wolf noted differences in pubescence and leaf margin to differentiate the two, although both are variable throughout their ranges.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Leaf blade surfaces glabrous or abaxial slightly puberulent; drupe stones 2–3. | → 2 |
2. Leaf blades bright green or yellow abaxially, dark green adaxially; drupe stones 2. | subsp. californica |
2. Leaf blades yellowish green on both surfaces; drupe stones 3. | subsp. occidentalis |
1. Leaf blade abaxial surface white stellate-hairy, sometimes with intermixed simple, erect hairs, adaxial surface glabrous, glabrate, sparsely hirsutulous, or sparsely stellate-hairy; drupe stones 2. | → 3 |
3. Leaf blade abaxial surfaces without simple, erect hairs. | → 4 |
4. Leaf blades narrowly elliptic, green and glossy adaxially, abaxial surfaces densely and closely white stellate-hairy, adaxial surfaces glabrous. | subsp. tomentella |
4. Leaf blades broadly elliptic to oblong-elliptic, green to gray-green adaxially, both surfaces white stellate-hairy, sparsely so adaxially. | subsp. crassifolia |
3. Leaf blade abaxial surfaces with simple, erect hairs, at least along veins. | → 5 |
5. Leaf blade apices abruptly acuminate to acute, margins sharply serrate to dentate-serrulate, sometimes strongly revolute. | subsp. cuspidata |
5. Leaf blade apices acute to rounded, margins entire or serrulate to serrate, flat to slightly revolute. | subsp. ursina |
1. Leaf blade surfaces short-puberulent. | subsp. yosemitana |
1. Leaf blade surfaces glabrous or abaxial puberulent on midrib and veins. | → 2 |
2. Young branches gray; leaves clustered on short-shoots. | subsp. modocensis |
2. Young branches usually red, rarely gray; leaves scattered along branchlets. | → 3 |
3. Leaf blade bases and apices rounded. | subsp. obtusissima |
3. Leaf blade bases and apices acute to obtuse. | → 4 |
4. Leaf blades bright green; drupes globose. | subsp. rubra |
4. Leaf blades usually dull green, especially abaxially; drupes pyriform. | subsp. nevadensis |
CA
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
OR
