Plant: Shrub or small tree

Leaves: 3-10 cm long, 1.5-6.2 cm wide, often yellowish, glabrous to evenly pubescent with appressed trichomes above, sparsely to densely pubescent below, the margin entire

INFLORESCENCE: 2.5-6 cm long, dense, the rachis not or barely visible, the bracts near midpoint forming conspicuous cupules: those of staminate flowers broadly triangular to lance linear, 3-9 mm long, connate 50-75% of their length; bracts of pistillate flowers broadly triangular, lanceolate, or lanceolate to oblanceolate, 2.5-12 mm long, those near midpoint of inflorescence connate, 30-80% of their length; flowers 3 per bract

Flowers: STAMINATE FLOWERS: perianth segments linear to elliptic; anthers 1.3-2.5 mm long. PISTILLATE FLOWERS: styles 2.5-5 mm long

Fruit: FRUITS 7-9 mm diameter, densely pubescent, sometimes glabrescent with age, berry-like, globose, dark blue-black to whitish gray at maturity, becoming brittle when dry; SEEDS usually 2, subellipsoid, dark

Misc: Desert scrub, chaparral, pine-oak forest; 800-2500 m (2700- 8200 ft); Mar-Jun

REFERENCES: Puente, Raul, and Thomas F. Daniel. 2001. Garryaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 33(1).

Common Name: ashy silktassel

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Tree

General: Dioecious evergreen shrubs to small trees, reaching 3.5 m tall, bark grayish green; stems squarish, at first hairy, later becoming smooth.

Leaves: Opposite, 3-10 cm long, 1.5-6.2 cm wide, often yellowish, glabrous to evenly pubescent with appressed trichomes above, sparsely to densely pubescent below, entire margin.

Flowers: Pendulous, densely silky catkins 3-7 cm long, rachis no or barely visible, bracts of staminate flowers triangular to lance-linear, 3-9 mm long, bracts of pistillate flowers triangular, lanceolate or oblanceolate, 2.5-12 mm long, 3 flowers per bract.

Fruits: Berries in grapelike cluster, dark blue, 7-9 mm, glabrescent with age.

Ecology: Found on dry slopes, in canyons, and among desert scrub from 2,500-8,500 ft (762-2591 m); flowers March-June.

Notes: The genera is distinctive because of its leaf shape and opposite pattern. Distinguished by the leaves being densely pubescent below, entire margins, and pubescent fruits.

Ethnobotany: Taken for colds, stomachaches, as a laxative, and for gonorrhea.

Etymology: Garrya is named for Nicholas Garry (1782-1856), an assistant to the Hudson-s Bay Company explorations of the Northwest, while flavescens means becoming yellowish.

Synonyms: Garrya flavescens subsp. pallida, Garrya flavescens var. pallida

Editor: SBuckley, 2010