Pixel Wild
Birchleaf Mountain Mahogany
Birchleaf Mountain Mahogany
Cercocarpus betuloides
Plantae
UNCOMMON

Stats

Lifespan
Up to 100 yrs
Size
Medium
Diet
Photosynthetic
Biome
Chaparral shrubland
Range
North America
Movement
Sessile
Breeding
Seeds
Defense
Toxins
Status
Uncommon

About

A tough evergreen shrub of California chaparral and dry slopes, birchleaf mountain mahogany produces seeds with a distinctive spiraling, feathery white tail up to 5 cm long that twirls in the wind like a tiny corkscrew.

Life cycle

  1. 1.
    seed
    A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
  2. 2.
    sprout
    A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
  3. 3.
    sapling
    A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
  4. 4.
    mature
    Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom
Plantae
Phylum
Tracheophyta
Class
Magnoliopsida
Order
Rosales
Family
Rosaceae
Genus
Cercocarpus
Species
Cercocarpus betuloides