Index / Search / Umbellularia californica
§1 Plant
Umbellularia californica (Hook. & Arn.) Nutt.
vernacular California laurel — species · Lauraceae
PlateNo public-domain or CC photograph located.
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Shrub, Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Lauraceae Juss.
- Genus
- Umbellularia
§2a
Native status, by region
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b
County-level range
· 8 counties across 1 state§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Low
- Shade
- Low
- Moisture use
- High
- Fire
- Medium
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- None
- Hedging
- Medium
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -13 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 140 min.
- Precipitation
- 13–84 in/yr
- pH range
- 5.7–7.4
- Root depth
- 16 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium, fine
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Lifespan
- Long
- Mature height
- 80 ft
- Height @ 20 y
- 30 ft
- Foliage texture
- Coarse
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Dense
- Porosity (winter)
- Dense
- Flower colour
- Yellow
- Fruit colour
- Yellow
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- Slight
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Spring
- Seed abundance
- High
- Seed begins
- Spring
- Seed ends
- Summer
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- No
- Seeds / lb
- 300
- Propagation
- seed, cuttings, bare root, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- Yes
- Browse palatability
- Medium
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- Yes
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- Yes
- Fuelwood
- High
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 8 counties across 1 state.
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/UMCA ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/5371727 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T14:42:51Z