General: California Buckthorn (Frangula californica) is an evergreen, upright, bright green, leafy shrub with coffee-bean-like fruits. The leaves are elliptical, 1-3 inches long, and thick.

California Buckthorn is an uncommon component of shrub communities on well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils in washes and on upper bajadas and moderate slopes into the lower mountains in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland) life zone.

Around Las Vegas, look for this species in the Willow Springs area at Red Rock Canyon NCA.

Family: Buckthorn (Rhamnaceae).

Other Names: Coffeeberry, Rhamnus californica.

Plant Form: Upright, multi-stemmed shrub to subtree.

Height: Usually to about head-high, to 15 feet.

Bark: Smooth, reddish gray to gray.

Stems: Branches alternate, flexible; sometimes tipped with a spine.

Leaves: Simple, alternate, elliptical, 1-3 inches long, thick; evergreen.

Flowers: Inflorescence of up to 60 inconspicuous flowers in clusters at leaf axils. Flower: Small with 5 yellow-green triangular petals.

Seeds: Fruit: drupe (like a cherry: a fleshy fruit with a pit), about 1/2 inch diameter, green, aging to red, then black when ripe; 2-4 stones per fruit.

Habitat: Dry, well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils in canyons and on upper bajadas and moderate slopes in the lower mountains.

Elevation: Below about 7,500 feet.

Distribution: California, Nevada, to southwestern Oregon.

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