Wavyleaf Silktassel

Garrya elliptica

A striking locally native shrub with both landscape and habitat appeal is the Wavyleaf silktassel or Garrya elliptica.  Native to the Coast Range up to Oregon, this moderate to fast-growing shrub, grows to about 10-12’ in height and 6-8’ in width.  It grows in both clay and serpentine soils, is drought-tolerant and can take full sun or part shade.  These plants can be pruned to tree or shrub form, revealing an attractive rough bark, which make a great visual or physical barrier.

Wavyleaf silktassels are dioecious, meaning that individual plants are either male or female.  Both males and females have silktassels (catkins) however those on male plants are longer and showier.  There are two readily available cultivars of male plants with particularly long tassels - ‘James Roof’ and ‘Evie’ which is a denser and more compact plant.  Female plants have shorter silktassels but they mature into grapelike clusters of fruit very attractive to birds, they are also commercially available, but less so than the males.

More information on this and other native plants can be found at Calscape: https://calscape.org/Garrya-elliptica-(Coast-Silktassel)