Garrya fremontii Torr.

An evergreen shrub up to 12 ft in height. Leaves leathery, dark glossy green, obovate or oval, 11⁄2 to 3 in. long, tapering at both ends, with appressed hairs on both surfaces when young, afterwards glabrous. Catkins in a terminal cluster, each catkin 2 to 4 in. long, with grey woolly bracts. Fruits globose, at first hairy, ultimately glabrous, 1⁄4 in. wide.

Native of California, Oregon, etc. A flowering spray is figured in Gard. Chron. (2 April 1881), p. 431, taken from a plant grown in the gardens of Gordon Castle, Moray. From the accompanying note it appears to have proved hardier there than G. elliptica, both species being grown on the same wall. Some years ago I saw it in Messrs Dickson’s nursery at Chester, but it is very rare in cultivation. It has not the fine qualities of G. elliptica, from which it may be distinguished by its differently shaped leaves and the ultimate smoothness of its foliage and fruit.