Family ²

Rosaceae

Description ³

General: Rose Family (Rosaceae). This evergreen shrub reaches up to 10 meters in height. It has a grayish trunk and puberulent branches. The elliptic to oblong leaves are simple and short petioled. They have spines along the margins and are thick and leathery. The small, white flowers are arranged in large terminal clusters and each flower has 5 petals, 5 sepals, and 10 stamens. The fruits are bright red or yellow drupe-like pomes with dry pulp and contain 3 to 6 seeds. They persist through winter.

Community ²

Chaparral, oak woodland

Flowering ²

(Mar) Jun-Aug

Ethnobotany ²

Many tribes in California gathered the fruit for food including the Salinan, Maidu, Karok, Sierra Miwok, Pomo, Luiseno, Hupa, Wappo, and Yuki. It is important to wait until the red fruits are very ripe before picking and eating them. They are boiled or roasted before consuming or sometimes they are eaten raw. Among the Sierra Miwok, the fruits were boiled and baked in a deep narrow earth oven. Another preparation technique was to store the fruits in a basket for two months until they had softened and then they were parched with coals in a basket and eaten. The fruits were reputed to be slightly tart. The Yuki made the leaves and bark into a decoction for medicinal use in treating stomachache and various body aches and pains. (USDA)

Garden Location ²

E, C, U, T

Associated Species ²

Birds eat the berries. Native bees use the pollen and nectar native bees (XERCES)
predatory or parasitoid insects XERCES
hummingbirds (nectar)

Sources and Credits

1. (c) gillian360, all rights reserved, uploaded by gillian360
2. (c) gillian360, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
3. Adapted by gillian360 from a work by Public Domain, http://eol.org/data_objects/1385354

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• Calflora
• CalPhotos
• eFloras.org
• Flora of North America (beta)
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
• IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
• Jepson eFlora
• NatureServe Explorer 2.0
• SEINet Symbiota portals
• Tropicos
• USDA PLANTS database
• World Flora Online

Range Map

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