Distribution: Occurring west of the Cascades crest and east in the Columbia River Gorge in Washington; British Columbia to California.
Habitat: Moist to dry, open forest, forest edge, and stream bank thickets at low elevation.
Flowers: February-April
Origin: Native
Growth Duration: Perennial
Conservation Status: Not of concern
Pollination: Bees, flies
Deciduous shrub, 1.5-3 m. tall, with purplish-brown bark.
Leaves alternate, short-petioled, the blades narrowly oblong-lanceolate to elliptic, 5-12 cm. long and up to 4 cm. wide, glabrous and light green above, slightly paler below.
Flowers imperfect, in pendant, axillary, bracteate racemes; flowers greenish-white, blossoming as the leaves develop; calyx 6-7 mm. long, the 5 lobes equaling the tube; petals 5, 5-6 mm. long, white, elliptic-obovate, ascending; stamens 15, in 3 series in the tubular portion of the calyx in the staminate flowers; pistils 5, the styles included in the calyx tube in the pistillate flowers.
Drupes 8-10 mm. long, 1-seeded, ovoid, bluish-black
Publication: Taxon 24(1): 200. 1975.
Nuttallia cerasiformis Torr. & A. Gray ex Hook. & Arn.
Nuttallia davidiana Baill.
Oemleria cerasiformis var. lancifolia Greene
Oemleria cerasiformis var. nigra Greene
Osmaronia cerasiformis (Torr. & A. Gray ex Hook. & Arn.) Greene
PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Oemleria cerasiformis in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database
WA Flora Checklist: Oemleria cerasiformis checklist entry
OregonFlora: Oemleria cerasiformis information
E-Flora BC: Oemleria cerasiformis atlas page
CalPhotos: Oemleria cerasiformis photos
