Cercocarpus alnifolius - Island mountain mahogany

Island mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus alnifolius) is a nitrogen-fixing evergreen shrub that looks like a compact birch tree, tolerating clay soil and years of neglect once established.¹ Deer readily browse it, so it fares poorly where deer are abundant.¹ It grows 2-5 m tall and 1-2 m wide.¹

Inputs

• Hardiness zone 7¹
• Hardiness zone 8¹
• Hardiness zone 9¹
• Hardiness zone 10¹
• Well drained soil¹

Type

• Shrub
• Evergreen

Functions

• Nitrogen fixer¹
• Soil stabilization¹
• Wildlife habitat¹
• Drought-tolerance¹
• Fire resistance²

Dimension	At maturity
Height (m)	2-5
Diameter (m)	1-2

Footnotes

1. Cercocarpus alnifolius, Island Mountain Mahogany | Las Pilitas Nursery Native Plant Database ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

2. Leaf burn times of California native plants, Las Pilitas Nursery, 2005 propane-torch ignition trial, live-leaf ignition time >60 seconds ↩