Flora of North America species comparison

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Umbellularia californica

California bay, California-laurel, myrtle-wood, Oregon-myrtle, pepperwood
Habit Trees or shrubs, to 45 m; twigs terete, glabrous or sparsely appressed-pubescent, rarely minutely tomentose.
Leaf

blade deep yellow-green, shiny, narrowly oblong or narrowly elliptic, 3-10 × 1.5-3 cm, base acute or obtuse, apex acute;

surfaces abaxially glabrous, sparsely appressed-pubescent or minutely tomentose, adaxially glabrous;

domatia absent.
Inflorescences

pubescent.
Flowers

5-10;

tepals 6-8 mm.
Drupe

usually solitary, 2 cm or more diam. 2n =24.

Umbellularia californica
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR; North America; w coast
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2

Native Americans used Umbellularia californica for medicinal purposes and occasionally as an insecticide (D. E. Moerman 1986).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Leaf blade abaxially glabrous or sparsely appressed-pubescent.
var. californica
1. Leaf blade abaxially minutely tomentose.
var. fresnensis
Source FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Lauraceae > Umbellularia
Subordinate taxa
U. californica var. californica, U. californica var. fresnensis
Synonyms Tetranthera californica
Name authority (Hooker & Arnott) Nuttall: N. Amer. Sylv. 1: 87. (1842)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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