Garrya
Garrya Dougl. ex Lindl. (1834), the only genus in the family Garryaceae, contains 13 species in western North America and Central America. Description Trees to 15m, or shrubs. The leaves are opposite, evergreen, simple. The flowers are unisexual, greenish, in hanging catkins, with the males and females on different plants. Male flowers in groups of 3 in the axils of cup-shaped bracts, without sepals and with 4 very small petals, often joined at the tips, open towards the base. Stamens 4, with large anthers. Female flowers solitary in the axils of 2–4 small bracts (or petals) but otherwise without sepals or petals. Ovary inferior and often hairy, with 2 or 3 fused carpels, each containing 1 ovule, and 2 divergent styles. Pollination is by wind. The fruits are dark blue or grey, at first juicy and bitter, but dry when ripe, with 1 or 2 black seeds. Key Recognition Features The rounded, evergreen leaves and the silvery catkins in winter or early spring. Evolution and Relationships Although superficially similar to catkin-bearing trees such as hazels (Corylus), and traditionally associated with the Cornaceae, recent DNA studies suggest that Garrya is an isolated genus and family, closest to the Solanaceae. Ecology and Geography In scrub on dry hills from Oregon and California southwards to Mexico, Guatemala, and the West Indies.
Comment The genus is named after Nicholas Garry (1781-1856) of the Hudson Bay Company, a friend of the plant collector David Douglas who introduced Garrya to Europe in 1827. Garrya is often cultivated for its silky male catkins; the plants respond well to clipping or pruning in spring as soon as the flowers have ceased to be beautiful.
Garrya elliptica Lindl. (Garryaceae) Coast Silk Tassel
Native of W. North America, in the coast ranges, from S. California to Oregon, growing in chaparral and forest at up to 600 m, flowering from January to March. It makes an evergreen shrub or small tree up to 8 m high, the male and female catkins on different plants. In female plants the catkins are shorter and less showy. Leaves woolly beneath. In the wild the male catkins are usually up to 15 cm, but they reach 35 cm in good specimens of the cv. 'James Roof’ selected in California. G. elliptica is very hardy, but in cold climates the leaves are often scorched by cold winds, and the catkins usually killed by frost within a week of expanding. Full sun. Prune in spring, as soon as the old catkins have faded; shorten each shoot, removing dead catkins and browned leaves. Height to 3m (10ft); spread to 4m (13ft). USZ 8–11, surviving -12°C (10°F) of overnight frost. Tolerant of summer drought. |
