Cercocarpus montanus Raf.

vernacular alderleaf mountain mahogany — species · Rosaceae

USDA: CEMO2
GBIF: 3001912
Rank: species

alderleaf mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus) — Platephotograph · Carol Jacobs-CarreCC BY-NC-ND source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Shrub, Tree
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Rosaceae Juss.
Genus: Cercocarpus

§2a

Native status, by region

L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 15 counties across 1 state

Legend Native · 15 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: High
Shade: Medium
Moisture use: Low
Fire: Medium
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: None
CaCO₃: High
Hedging: Medium

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -41 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 90 min.
Precipitation: 9–80 in/yr
pH range: 6–8
Root depth: 20 in min.
Fertility need: Low
Soil texture: coarse, medium

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Multiple Stem
Growth rate: Slow
Lifespan: Long
Mature height: 15 ft
Height @ 20 y: 15 ft
Foliage texture: Coarse
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Dense
Porosity (winter): Porous
Flower colour: White
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: Low
Toxicity: Moderate

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Late Spring
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Fall
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: Yes
Seeds / lb: 47,406
Propagation: seed, bare root, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: Yes
Browse palatability: High
Graze palatability: Medium
Palatable, human: No
Protein potential: Medium
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 15 counties across 1 state.

Arizona view state ↗ 15 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/CEMO2 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/3001912 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T05:45:41Z