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box leaf garrya, boxleaf silk tassel, dwarf silk tassel

eggleaf silktassel

Habit Shrubs 0.5–2(–3) m, branchlets moderately strigose-sericeous, glabrate. Shrubs (0.5–)1–2.5 m, branchlets puberulent, glabrescent.
Leaves

blade green abaxially, bright to olive green adaxially, flat to concave-convex, ovate-elliptic or obovate-elliptic to suborbiculate, 1–5(–6.5) × 0.9–3.3 cm, length 1.3–2.3 times width, margins flat, smooth, apex rounded to obtuse, abaxial surface densely strigose-sericeous, hairs antrorsely appressed, adaxial surface glossy, glabrous.

blade gray-green, flat to concave-convex, elliptic to oblong-elliptic, ovate-elliptic, or broadly lanceolate, 1.6–4(–5.5) × 0.7–2.5 cm, length 2 times width, margins undulate, ± muricate-roughened and with callose rim, especially distally, apex obtuse to subacute and mucronulate, both surfaces usually persistently densely tomentulose, hairs coiling to recurved, or adaxial sometimes barely glossy, ± glabrescent.

Berries

4–6 mm diam., glabrous or sparsely strigose near apex, not glaucous.

4–8 mm diam., glabrous, not glaucous.

Aments

staminate 5–7 cm; pistillate compact, internodes to 1 mm, unbranched, pendulous, 3–9 cm; pistillate bracts connate proximally into deep cup, at least at proximal nodes each subtending 3 flowers, triangular to oblong-acuminate, differing in size and shape from leaves, strigose-sericeous.

staminate 2–3 cm; pistillate loose, internodes 4+ mm, sometimes branched, erect, 1.5–3 cm; pistillate bracts distinct or connate basally, each usually subtending 1 flower, elliptic to ovate, at least proximal similar in size and shape to distal leaves, closely puberulent with curly or crisped hairs.

Garrya buxifolia

Garrya goldmanii

Phenology Flowering Mar–Apr. Flowering Mar–Apr.
Habitat Serpentine, chaparral, yellow-pine forests. Ledges, bluffs, slopes, talus, canyons, limestone substrates, ash woods, oak scrub, oak-pine-juniper woodlands.
Elevation 50–2200 m. (200–7200 ft.) 1400–2400(–2700) m. (4600–7900(–8900) ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
NM; TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila)
Discussion

Garrya buxifolia occurs in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon. Its relatively narrow geographical range is essentially parapatric with that of G. flavescens where the two meet in northwestern California. Without observation of the diagnostic fruit vestiture, the green-glossy and completely glabrous adaxial leaf surfaces of G. buxifolia usually distinguish it.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Garrya goldmanii, which in the flora area is found in trans-Pecos Texas and southern New Mexico, has been treated as a subspecies of G. ovata (G. V. Dahling 1978), along with G. ovata subsp. mexicana Dahling, but all three taxa are distinct and justifiably treated at specific rank (G. L. Nesom 2012e). Both G. ovata and G. mexicana (Dahling) G. L. Nesom (G. ovata subsp. mexicana) are restricted to Mexico.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 12, p. 553. FNA vol. 12, p. 550.
Parent taxa Garryaceae > Garrya Garryaceae > Garrya
Sibling taxa
G. elliptica, G. flavescens, G. fremontii, G. goldmanii, G. lindheimeri, G. veatchii, G. wrightii
G. buxifolia, G. elliptica, G. flavescens, G. fremontii, G. lindheimeri, G. veatchii, G. wrightii
Synonyms G. ovata subsp. goldmanii, G. ovata var. goldmanii
Name authority A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 7: 349. (1868) Wooton & Standley: Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 16: 157. (1913)
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