Fremontodendron Coville (1893), in the Sterculiaceae, consists of
3 species in western North America.

Description Trees to 10m, with dark bark. The leaves are evergreen, alternate, sometimes 3- to 7-lobed, dark green above, white or pinkish and velvety-hairy beneath. The flowers are bisexual, solitary, covered with star-shaped hairs outside. Sepals 5, fused at the base, yellow to orange, with a nectary pit at the base; petals absent. Stamens 5, filaments fused for about half their length around the base of the style, with convoluted anthers. Ovary of 5 fused cells, style slender. Pollination is by insects. The fruit is a hairy capsule with 5 rows of ovules, surrounded by the papery remains of the sepals. Seeds are hairy or shining black.

Key Recognition Features The dark green, softly leathery leaves with pinkish scurf beneath, and the large, rich yellow flowers.

Evolution and Relationships Fremontodendron is one of those small and isolated genera found only in southern California. Others are Carpenteria and Romneya.

Ecology and Geography On dry hillsides and in chaparral and open oak woods, at up to 1800m, in California from Shasta County southwards to Baja California.

Comment The species and several cultivars, such as ‘California Glory’, are grown for ornament. The bristly hairs on the fruits are particularly irritating. If given too moist or rich a soil the plants grow very fast but are short-lived. The genus is named after Col. John Charles Frémont, (1813–90), an early explorer of western North America. Fremontodendron Fremontodendron Coville (1893), in the Sterculiaceae, consists of 3 species in western North America.

Description Trees to 10m, with dark bark. The leaves are evergreen, alternate, sometimes 3- to 7-lobed, dark green above, white or pinkish and velvety-hairy beneath. The flowers are bisexual, solitary, covered with star-shaped hairs outside. Sepals 5, fused at the base, yellow to orange, with a nectary pit at the base; petals absent. Stamens 5, filaments fused for about half their length around the base of the style, with convoluted anthers. Ovary of 5 fused cells, style slender. Pollination is by insects. The fruit is a hairy capsule with 5 rows of ovules, surrounded by the papery remains of the sepals. Seeds are hairy or shining black.

Key Recognition Features The dark green, softly leathery leaves with pinkish scurf beneath, and the large, rich yellow flowers.

Evolution and Relationships Fremontodendron is one of those small and isolated genera found only in southern California. Others are Carpenteria and Romneya.

Ecology and Geography On dry hillsides and in chaparral and open oak woods, at up to 1800m, in California from Shasta County southwards to Baja California.

Comment The species and several cultivars, such as ‘California Glory’, are grown for ornament. The bristly hairs on the fruits are particularly irritating. If given too moist or rich a soil the plants grow very fast but are short-lived. The genus is named after Col. John Charles Frémont, (1813–90), an early explorer of western North America.