Chaparral coffeeberry Chaparral coffeeberry

Rhamnus tomentella Bentham, Pl. Hartw., 303. 1849 (as tomentellus); Frangula californica var. tomentella (Bentham) A. Gray; F. tomentella (Bentham) Grubov; R. californica Eschscholtz subsp. tomentella (Bentham) C. B. Wolf; R. purshiana de Candolle var. tomentella (Bentham) K. L. Brandegee

Leaf blades green and glossy adaxially, narrowly elliptic, 3–7 cm, margins entire or serrulate, flat, apex acute, abaxial surface densely and closely white stellate-hairy, without intermixed simple, erect hairs, adaxial surface glabrous; veins not prominent abaxially. Drupe stones 2.

Flowering Jan–Apr. Chaparral, woodlands; 0–2200 m; Calif.; Mexico (Baja California).

Subspecies tomentella frequently intergrades with subsp. cuspidata.