General: Ashy Silktassel (Garrya flavescens) is a robust, upright evergreen shrub with relatively large leaves for a desert plant (to about 3-inches long). The leaves are gray-green and leathery. The catkin-like flower structure, hanging near the ends of the branches, is unique and makes identification easy.

Ashy Silktassel is a fairly common component of vegetation communities on well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils along washes and on upper bajadas and moderate slopes into the lower mountains in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland) and Transition (Yellow Pine Forest) life zones.

Family: Silk Tassel (Garryaceae).

Other Names: Silk tassel bush.

Plant Form: Robust, upright evergreen shrub or subtree.

Height: Usually to about 6 feet, to 10 feet.

Bark: Gray.

Stems: Upright, spreading, stiff.

Leaves: Elliptical (to 3 inches by 1-3/4 inches), leathery, entire; lower surface may be hairy.

Flowers: Dioecious. Blooms during spring. Inflorescence: hanging, catkin-like structure; flowers inconspicuous.

Seeds: Fruit: berry; green, aging to black or gray; dry. Seeds: 2 per berry.

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

Elevation: About 2,000 to 8,000 feet.

Distribution: California to Utah and Arizona, then south into northern Baja California.

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