Common Name: mountain mahogany
Type: Deciduous shrub
Family: Rosaceae
Native Range: Western United States
Zone: 5 to 10
Height: 8.00 to 12.00 feet
Spread: 4.00 to 8.00 feet
Bloom Time: Flowers not showy
Bloom Description: Whitish yellow
Sun: Full sun
Water: Dry to medium
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Hedge
Flower: Insignificant
Leaf: Good Fall
Fruit: Showy
Tolerate: Drought, Erosion, Dry Soil, Shallow-Rocky Soil
Culture
Grow in average, dry to medium moisture, very well-drained soil in full sun. Prefers a sandy clay or rocky soils and will tolerate drought once established.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Cercocarpus montanus, commonly called mountain mahogany, is a woody shrub or small tree which grows in dry, chaparral, foothills and lower mountain regions of the western United States. Mature plants will reach up to 12' tall with an upright to spreading growth habit. Early summer flowers are insignificant, but give way to fruits (hard nutlets) with long, attractive, silvery-white, feathery tails which cover the shrub in late summer. Leaves are variable in shape and range from 0.5-2" long and 0.25-1" wide. Deciduousness also varies based on climate, but leaves will turn russet in the fall. Its vase-like shape and silvery seed plumes are perhaps its most ornamental features.
Genus name comes from the Greek words kerkos meaning a tail and karpos meaning a fruit for the fruit's "tail".
Specific epithet means pertaining to mountains.
The common name mountain mahogany refers to the red mahogany color of the bark.
Uses
The silvery-white seed plumes may be best highlighted when this shrub is grown in a location where it will be backlit by early morning or late evening sun. Effective as a windbreak, as background in the border or for erosion control on a slope.