Island redberry Island redberry

Rhamnus crocea Nuttall subsp. pirifolia (Greene) C. B. Wolf; R. crocea var. pirifolia (Greene) Little

Shrubs to small trees, 2.5–6(–10) m, unarmed. Branchlets purple to gray, glabrous or puberulent. Leaves persistent, alternate; petiole 5–10 mm; blade dull reddish to yellowish brown abaxially, usually shiny green adaxially, broadly elliptic to oblong or ovate-oblong, (1.5–)2–5(–6) cm, distinctly coriaceous, base cuneate to nearly truncate, margins blunt-serrate or entire, apex acute to rounded, apiculate, both surfaces glabrous; secondary veins 5–9 pairs, all diverging at nearly same angle. Inflorescences fascicles or flowers solitary. Pedicels 3–6 mm. Sepals 4. Petals 0. Drupes red, globose, 6–8 mm; stones 2.

Flowering (Jan–)Feb–Jun. Steep slopes, canyon walls and bottoms, dunes, grasslands, coastal sage scrub, chaparral, pine woodlands; 10–500 m; Calif.; Mexico (Baja California).

Rhamnus pirifolia is known in California on the Channel Islands and in Baja California on Guadalupe Island; it has not been implicated in hybridization with other members of the R. crocea complex.