VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Umbellularia californica | California Bay 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
California bay wood is used for cabinets, furniture, interior trim,
paneling, veneer, gunstocks, and turned woodenware.  Burls, marketed as
myrtlewood, are used for making novelty items and wood carvings [9].


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
California bay leaves and twigs are browsed by black-tailed deer and
livestock.  The tree is in relatively short supply over most of its
distribution, but is one of the prinicipal browse species for deer in
parts of the North Coast Ranges [42].  The seeds are eaten by birds,
rodents, and domestic and wild pigs.  [5,43,39].  Pigs also consume the
roots [42].


PALATABILITY : 
New shoots are highly palatable to black-tailed deer.  Utilization of 60
to 80 percent by weight of young shoots was recorded on chaparral deer
ranges in Madera and Lake counties, California [6,39].  The relish and
degree of use shown by livestock and wildlife species for California bay
leaves and twigs has been rated as follows [39]:

     cattle - fair to poor
     horses - poor
     goats - fair to poor
     sheep - fair to poor
     mule deer - good to fair 


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
California bay leaves and twigs are high in protein.  Studies conducted
at several sites in northern California found that the protein
content varies from 25.6 percent in May to 11.3 percent in January [43].


COVER VALUE : 
California bay provides hiding and thermal cover for deer, wild pig,
black bear, and various small mammals.  It also provides nesting,
hiding, and thermal cover for upland game birds and songbirds.  It is
heavily used for cover when it grows in ecotones between riparian and
chaparral communities [10].


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
California bay is used for a variety of rehabilitative purposes.  It has
been utilized in riparian and wildlife habitat reclamation projects in
Berkeley, the Santa Clara Valley, and Los Angeles County, California
[14,35,49].  It has also been used in watershed projects for flood
control and stream channel restoration [17,32].  California bay is
started from seed and transplants best when under 1 year of age.
Cultivation methods have been detailed [42].


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
Native Americans made tea from the root bark of California bay and used
the leaves for control of biting insects.  The leaves were also used
medicinally by Native Americans and pioneers for treatment of headache
and rheumatism.  

California bay leaves are marketed as a food seasoning.  The tree is
used in ornamental landscaping and is available at commercial nurseries
[9,20].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Hardwood timber:  Silviculture of California bay may become more
important as East Coast hardwood production lessens.  Although
California bay wood is valuable, young trees are not currently planted
for future commercial harvest.  A serious management problem of this
species is heart rot.  The fungus (Ganoderma applanatum) causing this
disease will infect even young trees.  Heart rot can be virtually
eliminated from a stand by cutting down trees to stumps of less than 8
inches (20 cm) in height to promote root crown sprouting.  Root crown
sprouts have a very low incidence of heart rot.  Slash disposal by
broadcast burning is recommended to increase sprouting and kill fungi
harbored in the slash [27].  California bay has no serious insect pests,
although the powderpost beetle (Ptilinus basalis) and various oak bark
beetles (Pseudopithyophthorus spp.) will sometimes attack injured trees
[9].  California bay is not windfirm [27].

Conifer timber:  California bay severely reduces growth of conifer
timber seedlings through allelopathic inhibition.  The leaves contain
water-soluble terpenes which retard root elongation [16].  A study done
in the Siskiyou National Forest of southwestern Oregon showed that root
elongation of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) seedlings was 16
percent of normal following treatment with California bay leaf extract.
This was a greater rate of suppression than that shown by 10 other
chaparral species tested for potential conifer growth inhibition [44].

Unless controlled, the California bay understory in coniferous forests
often becomes dominant or codominant within a few years following
clear-cutting of mature timber trees [9].

Control:  California bay can be controlled by aerosol or injection/cut
surface treatment with 2,4-D [8].  (also see Fire Management
Considerations regarding control by burning)

Related categories for Species: Umbellularia californica | California Bay