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 branch ends, is unique and makes identification easy. Plants are male or female, but the hanging flowers are similar.

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.

Look for Ashy Silktassel along the base of the Red Rock Cliffs and on the slopes of Virgin Peak in Gold Butte.

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 (plants are male or female). Blooms during spring. Inflorescence: hanging, catkin-like structure; individual 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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