07/06/2024
Plant of the month for July: Mountain Mahogany
(Cercocarpus betuloide)
�Available in #1 container & as seeds (25 seeds) with tails.
This is not a true mahogany, but it gets its name from the plant's exceptionally hard, reddish wood. It varies in size from a shrub to a small tree, up to about 16 feet high. The flowers are creamy white and appear in the late winter and early spring. C.betuloides is very noticeable in the middle of the summer because this is the season when it produces its very odd fruits. These are curly, hairy appendages that look like small, thin mouse tails. This gives the plant a gray, fuzzy appearance and makes it easy to spot. The hairy appendage is actually the plant's fruit. This structure helps to catch the wind and let the breeze scatter the seeds from a parent plant.
In California, Mountain Mahogany grows just about everywhere. However, it is generally absent from the Mojave Desert and from the Central Valley between Sacramento and Bakersfield. It ranges in elevation from sea level to 10,000 ft. (3,000m). Sun: full/part sun. Temperature: cold tolerant to 10°F (-12°C). Soil: this plant does well in almost all soil types, even serpentine soils.
Mountain Mahogany accepts pruning very well. It has a fast initial growth rate, and can live two decades or more. Deer will browse the lower leaves, so it is best to use deer screen when the plant is first set into the ground. Gophers will eat the roots of young Mountain Mahoganies, so gopher screen is also recommended. Aside from the aforementioned deer and gophers, there are few pests associated with this plant.
With it’s deep and broad root system, Mountain Mahogany is a good bank stabilization shrub. If you need an obscuring hedge, try Mountain Mahogany instead of non-native and invasive bamboo, which also requires more water.
Indigenous people used the hard wood from the shrub to make strong dibbles, spear points, and arrowheads. They also used the bark of the shrub to make a tea to treat head and chest colds. The bark of Mountain Mahogany was also used to make a light reddish-colored dye.
The genus name Cercocarpus has been Latinized from a compound of words from Ancient Greek. The word 'kerkos' means 'tail', and 'karpos' means 'fruit'; hence the genus name is "tail-fruit". The species name betuloides comes from the Latin word 'betula', which means 'birch', and the fragment 'ides' comes from the Ancient Greek word meaning 'to see’ or 'to look'. That is, the leaf of the Mountain Mahogany looks like a birch leaf. Which it does indeed!
