Carnegiea gigantea, Giant Saguaro

Southwest Desert Flora

Home to the plants of the Sonoran, Chihuahuan and Mojave Deserts

Cirsium ochrocentrum, Yellowspine Thistle

Garrya wrightii, Wright's Silktassel

Garrya wrightii, Wright's SilktasselGarrya wrightii, Wright's Silktassel Garrya wrightii, Wright's SilktasselGarrya wrightii, Wright's Silktassel


Scientific Name: Garrya wrightii
Common Name: Wright's Silktassel
Also Called: Silk Tassel, Wright Silktassel
Family: Garryaceae, Silk Tassel Family
Synonyms: ()
Status: Native
Duration: Perennial;
Size: Up to 10 feet or so.
Growth Form: Shrub or small tree; a tough plant that is drought tolerant.
Leaves: Green, light green; opposite, simple, with short petioles thick and leathery.
Flower Color: Green and inconspicuous, flowers in hanging clusters (catkins) or "tassels", flowers dioecious; fruit a purple pea-sized berry with 1 or 2 seeds.
Flowering Season: March to August.
Elevation: 3,000 to 8,000 feet, higher and lower elevations in Texas from 4,000 to 5,000 feet.

Habitat Preferences: Chaparral and Pinyon-Juniper communities especially with Sonoran Scrub Oak and Emory Oak, Mountain-mahogany (Cercocarpus), Desert Ceanothus (Ceanothus) and Manzanita (Actostaphylos).

Recorded Range: Wright's Silktassel is found in AZ, NM, TX and northern Mexico. In With few or no records for Navajo, La Paz and Yuma counties, in Arizona it is found throughout most of the states above 3,000 feet; in New Mexico it occurs in the southwest quarter and in west Texas south and east of El Paso.

North America & US County Distribution Map for Garrya wrightii.

U.S. Weed Information: No information available.
Invasive/Noxious Weed Information: No information available.
Wetland Indicator: No information available.
Threatened/Endangered Information: No information available.

Genus Information: 9 species in the United States, 2 species in Arizona.

The Plant List includes 26 scientific plant names of species rank for the genus Garrya. Of these 15 are accepted species names.

Comments: Wright's Silktassel is found in the southern and central parts of the state and eastward to southern New Mexico and west Texas (Trans-Pecos region) and also northern Mexico.

Wright's Silktassel is one of several species named in honor of American botanist Charles Wright (1811-1885). Other species named for Wright include Datura wrightii, the genus Carlowrightia and Geissorhiza wrightii.

Also see in Southwest Desert Flora; Ashy Silktassel, Garrya flavescens.

Date Profile Completed: 03/19/2016, updated 03/19/2016, updated format 10/12/2017
References:
U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service on-line database and USGS ITIS search
Arizona Flora, Kearney, Thomas H., Peebles, Robert H., 1960, University of California Press, Berkley and Los Angeles, California.
USDA Forest Service Fire Effects Information System (MEOF); http://www.feis-crs.org/beta/; (accessed 09/28/2015)
http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/garwri/all.html
The Plant List (2013). Version 1.1. Published on the Internet; http://www.theplantlist.org/ (accessed 09/24/2015).
http://www.theplantlist.org/1.1/browse/A/Garryaceae/Garrya/
Native Plant Information Network, NPIN (2013). Published on the Internet http://www.wildflower.org/plants/ [accessed: 09/28/2015]. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas, Austin, TX.as Cornaceae (Dogwood Family)
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=GAWR3
SEINet for synonyms, scientific names, recorded geographic locations and general information
http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/.
Wikipedia contributors. "Charles Wright (botanist)." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 14 Sep. 2015. Web. 28 Sep. 2015.