PlantKey Open ecological atlas
Planner
Home / Browse / Frangula / California Buckthorn (subsp. cuspidata)
iNaturalist — CC, credited & licensed per image
Pictured: Frangula californica — the species. This subspecies isn’t separately illustrated.
Rhamnaceae family

California Buckthorn (subsp. cuspidata) Frangula californica subsp. cuspidata subspecies

Native

California Buckthorn (subsp. cuspidata) is a perennial tree native to the lower 48 states.

More about this plant

Frangula californica is a species of flowering plant in the buckthorn family native to western North America. It produces edible fruits and seeds. It is commonly known as California coffeeberry and California buckthorn. Wikipedia →

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Conditions
Sources · Conditions
Cold hardiness (derived) — Hardiness
Hardiness
≥ zone 11 derived from its U.S. range
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
Lifespan
Perennial
In the garden
Tree layer (canopy / understory) — Sits in the tree of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
derived roles
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
❧ Caterpillar hosts ~11 caterpillar species

Frangula supports ~11 caterpillar species.

Native butterfly & moth caterpillars are the base of the terrestrial food web — most songbirds rear their young almost entirely on them. As a host for native Lepidoptera this is a moderate genus.

Recorded feeding on Frangula in North America, including:

Argyrotaenia franciscana · Orange Tortrix Aristotelia rhamnina · twirler moth Autographa mappa · Wavy Chestnut Y Clepsis fucana · leafroller moth Epinotia lomonana · leafroller moth Euchlaena johnsonaria · Johnson's Euchlaena
+ 8 more species →
Euchlaena mollisaria · geometer (inchworm) moth Eupithecia columbiata · geometer (inchworm) moth Eupithecia misturata · geometer (inchworm) moth Hemileuca eglanterina · Elegant Sheep Moth Hyalophora cecropia · Cecropia Moth Hyalophora euryalus · Ceanothus Silkmoth Lophocampa argentata · Silver-Spotted Tiger Moth Magusa orbifera · owlet moth
Keystone count (genus-level) from Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use records. Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0).
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
Sources for this entry (12) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status
[06] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
[07] Ecological value — Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[08] Conservation rank — NatureServe Explorer (CC BY)
[09] Cold hardiness (derived) — Derived from U.S. range × USDA PHZM zones
[10] Caterpillar host count — Warren II 2026 (Dryad, CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[11] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
Spot an error or have a better photo? Every field links to its source, and the whole dataset is open.
Cite this page Open data, please attribute

PlantKey’s data is open under CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to reuse and adapt, with attribution and the same licence. Photos keep their own per-image licence + credit (see Sources above).

Citation

Loading…

BibTeX 
Loading…