Photo copyright © 2021 Mariposa Native Plants
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, such as right now, 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--quite a contrast to the other chaparral plants that surround it mid-summer--and makes it easy to spot (see photo above).
In California, Mountain Mahogany grows just about everywhere. It is generally absent from the Central Valley between Sacramento and Bakersfield and from the Mojave Desert. 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. Soil acidity: pH from 5 to 8.
Fairly easy to care for once established. A specimen that is planted early in the year from a 1-gallon container should be given supplemental water (1 gallon, 4 liters) every week for the first summer. Once the fall and winter rains arrive, stop supplemental watering. In the second summer, C.betuloides should need no supplemental water. Mountain Mahogany accepts pruning very well. It has a fast initial growth rate, but is very long-lived, two decades or more.
Foothills (to 2500 feet), lower mountains (2500-3500 feet), middle mountains (3500-6000 feet), and high mountains (above 6000 feet).
Deer will browse the lower leaves. When the plant is first set into the ground, it is prudent to surround it with a deer screen. Gophers will eat the roots of young Mountain Mahoganies. A safe bet is to provide any freshly-set specimen with a gopher screen.
Aside from the aforementioned deer and gophers, there are few pests associated with Mountain Mahogany.
Mountain Mahogany, with it deep and broad root system, is a good bank stabilization shrub. If you need an obscuring hedge, try Mountain Mahogany instead of non-native bamboo (which requires more water) from the retail nursery.
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', 'to look', or 'to have a form' (think of our English words 'idea' or 'video'). That is, the leaf of the Mountain Mahogany looks like a birch leaf. Which it does indeed!
(Above) Seeds of Mountain Mahogany: 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. Photo copyright © 2021 Mariposa Native Plants
Indigenous people used Cercocarpus betuloides in a number of ways. The hard wood from the shrub sufficed to make strong dibbles, spear points, and arrowheads. But that's not all. Native Americans had medicinal uses for the bark of the shrub. Boiling the bark with Ephedra (e.g. Mormon Tea, Ephedra viridis) produced a pleasing tea, which was used to treat head and chest colds. The bark of Mountain Mahogany was also used to make a light reddish-colored dye.
#1 container, about 1 gallon. Seeds: small packet (25 seeds) with tails.