''Garrya buxifolia'' is a species of flowering shrub, known by the common names dwarf silktassel and boxleaf silktassel, in the genus ''

Garrya ''Garrya'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Garryaceae native to Mexico, the western United States, Central America and the Greater Antilles. Common names include silk tassel and tassel bush. They are evergreen dioecious wind-pollina ...

''. It is native to

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and northern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, where it grows in forests and

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

, especially in the coastal mountains and hills.

Description

''Garrya buxifolia'' is an erect shrub approaching three meters in maximum height and generally not sprawling very wide. It has a thick foliage of oval-shaped leaves, each several centimeters long and about half as wide, green and shiny on the upper surface and paler and hairy on the underside. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a long, hanging cluster of flowers. The shrub is

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

, with male and female plants producing similarly arranged inflorescences. Female flowers give way to hanging bunches or small clusters of fruits. The fruit is a spherical berry which is green when young and turns reddish to dark bluish-purple when ripe.

External links

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Jepson Manual Treatment of ''Garrya buxifolia''USDA Plants Profile for ''Garrya buxifolia''''Garrya buxifolia'' — U.C. Photo gallery
Garryales Flora of California Flora of Oregon Flora of the Klamath Mountains Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{asterid-stub