DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Rhamnus californica | California Coffeeberry 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
California coffeeberry ranges from extreme southwestern Oregon southward
along the coast and Coast Ranges to southwestern California 976].  It is
cultivated in Hawaii [82].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES20  Douglas-fir
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES23  Fir-spruce
   FRES27  Redwood
   FRES28  Western hardwoods
   FRES34  Chaparral - mountain shrub


STATES : 
     CA  HI  OR


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     CHIS  PORE  REDW  SAMO


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    1  Northern Pacific Border
    3  Southern Pacific Border


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K005  Mixed conifer forest
   K006  Redwood forest
   K007  Red fir forest
   K009  Pine - cypress forest
   K012  Douglas-fir forest
   K029  California mixed evergreen forest
   K030  California oakwoods
   K033  Chaparral
   K035  Coastal sagebrush
   K036  Mosaic of K030 and K035


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   207  Red fir
   229  Pacific Douglas-fir
   231  Port-Orford-cedar
   232  Redwood
   234  Douglas-fir - tanoak - Pacific madrone
   248  Knobcone pine
   249  Canyon live oak
   250  Blue oak - Digger pine
   255  California coast live oak


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
   201  Blue oak woodland
   202  Coast live oak woodland
   203  Riparian woodland
   204  North coastal shrub
   205  Coastal sage shrub
   207  Scrub oak mixed chaparral


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
California coffeeberry is a shrub component of chaparral, woodland, and
forest communities throughout its distribution [4,8,52,55,56].  It has
not been used as an indicator species in published classification
schemes for California.  In the Siskiyou Mountains of southwestern
Oregon and extreme northern California, Atzet and Wheeler [1] describe a
tanoak/California coffeeberry (Lithocarpus densiflorus/Rhamnus
californica) plant association on ultrabasic parent materials.  Although
the tanoak series typically occurs on deep, fertile soils in the
Siskiyou Mountain province, this association is the ultrabasic version
of a tanoak climax.  Dominance of coffeeberry apparently indicates a
soil imbalance [1].

In southern and central California, California coffeeberry is a frequent
member of coastal chaparral and sage scrub [13,18] and is most commonly
associated with relatively mesic scrub oak (Quercus spp.) chaparral
[30].  It also becomes locally abundant on cool, fog-dominated sites
along the central Coast Range where it occurs beneath mixed-hardwood
forests dominated by coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia) [15,54,65,70].
Although never very abundant, California coffeeberry is often associated
with woodland and forest mosaics throughout southern and central
California.  Within oak woodlands, knobcone pine (Pinus attenuata), and
coastal forests, it occurs both as a scattered understory shrub and as a
component of intermixed stands of "woodland chaparral" [35,30,67,68].
Some common associates are chaparral whitethorn (Ceanothus leucodermis),
toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), skunkbush sumac (Rhus trilobata),
redberry (Rhamnus crocea), hollyleaf redberry (R. crocea var.
ilicifolia), and poison-oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum).

In northern California and southwestern Oregon, California coffeeberry
occurs in mixed evergreen, red fir (Abies magnifica var. shastensis),
and redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forests [49,52,65].  On
mixed-evergreen sites with ultrabasic parent materials, the
sclerophyllous subcanopy is largely replaced by a shrub layer dominated
by California coffeeberry (ssp. occidentalis) and evergreen huckleberry
(Vaccinium ovatum) [1,64,65].  The open, conifer overstory is usually
composed of Port-Orford cedar (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana), knobcone pine,
sugar pine (Pinus lambertina), and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga mensiezii)
with a sparse subcanopy of tanoak, huckleberry oak (Quercus
vaccinifolia), and California laurel (Umbellularia californica)
[1,2,3,65].

California coffeeberry is also a characteristic shrub within extensive,
evergreen brushfields in the Siskiyou Mountain province [21,24,25].
Common brushfield associates include whiteleaf manzanita (Arctostaphylos
viscida), greenleaf manzanita (A. patula), hoary manzanita (A.
canescens), wedgeleaf ceanothus (Ceanothus cuneatus), and deerbrush (C.
integerrimus) [21,25].

Related categories for Species: Rhamnus californica | California Coffeeberry