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Summary
Duration	Perennial
Growth Habit	Tree, Shrub
U.S. Nativity	Native to U.S.
Federal T/E Status
National Wetland Indicator
Morphology/Physiology
Active Growth Period	Spring and Summer
After Harvest Regrowth Rate
Bloat	None
C:N Ratio	Medium
Coppice Potential	Yes
Fall Conspicuous	No
Fire Resistant	No
Flower Color	Yellow
Flower Conspicuous	Yes
Foliage Color	Green
Foliage Porosity Summer	Dense
Foliage Porosity Winter	Dense
Foliage Texture	Coarse
Fruit/Seed Color	Black
Fruit/Seed Conspicuous	Yes
Growth Form	Multiple Stem
Growth Rate	Moderate
Height at 20 Years, Maximum (feet)	6
Height, Mature (feet)	10
Known Allelopath	No
Leaf Retention	Yes
Lifespan	Moderate
Low Growing Grass	No
Nitrogen Fixation
Resprout Ability	Yes
Shape and Orientation	Erect
Toxicity	None
Growth Requirements
Adapted to Coarse Textured Soils	Yes
Adapted to Fine Textured Soils	No
Adapted to Medium Textured Soils	Yes
Anaerobic Tolerance	None
CaCO3 Tolerance	Low
Cold Stratification Required	Yes
Drought Tolerance	High
Fertility Requirement	Low
Fire Tolerance	High
Frost Free Days, Minimum	200
Hedge Tolerance	Low
Moisture Use	Low
pH, Minimum	7
pH, Maximum	7.5
Planting Density per Acre, Minimum	300
Planting Density per Acre, Maximum	600
Precipitation, Minimum	13
Precipitation, Maximum	35
Root Depth, Minimum (inches)	6
Salinity Tolerance	None
Shade Tolerance	Intolerant
Temperature, Minimum (°F)	23
Reproduction
Bloom Period	Late Summer
Commercial Availability	Contracting Only
Fruit/Seed Abundance	Medium
Fruit/Seed Period Begin	Summer
Fruit/Seed Period End	Fall
Fruit/Seed Persistence	No
Propagated by Bare Root	Yes
Propagated by Bulb	No
Propagated by Container	Yes
Propagated by Corm	No
Propagated by Cuttings	Yes
Propagated by Seed	Yes
Propagated by Sod	No
Propagated by Sprigs	No
Propagated by Tubers	No
Seed per Pound	27000
Seed Spread Rate	Moderate
Seedling Vigor	Medium
Small Grain	No
Vegetative Spread Rate	Moderate
Suitability/Use
Berry/Nut/Seed Product	No
Christmas Tree Product	No
Fodder Product	No
Fuelwood Product	None
Lumber Product	No
Naval Store Product	No
Nursery Stock Product	Yes
Palatable Browse Animal	High
Palatable Graze Animal	Low
Palatable Human	No
Post Product	No
Protein Potential	Medium
Pulpwood Product	No
Veneer Product	No

 

Kingdom  Plantae -- Plants

Subkingdom  Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants

Superdivision  Spermatophyta -- Seed plants

Division  Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants

Class  Magnoliopsida -- Dicotyledons

Subclass  Dilleniidae

Order  Malvales

Family  Sterculiaceae -- Cacao family

Genus  Fremontodendron Coville -- flannelbush P

Species  Fremontodendron californicum (Torr.) Coville -- California flannelbush P

 

Alternate Names

Fremontia

 

Uses

Ethnobotanic: The bark is cut at one end of the branches and peeled off in long strips.  These are washed and rubbed between the hands.  Three strands are rolled together on the upper thigh to make cordage a type of string or rope that was made into a pack strap and tumpline by the Kawaiisu.  The wood was also sometimes substituted for willow in the making of Kawaiisu baby cradles.  The inner bark was soaked in water and the infusion drank as a physic by the Kawaiisu.  Many other California tribes utilized the bark for cordage including the Owens Valley Paiute, Sierra Miwok, Western Mono, and Tubatulabal.  The Sierra Miwok made a hoop of the bark wrapped with buckskin for the hoop and pole game.  The Tubatulabal used rope made of flannelbush to lash bundles of tules together for a raft, to tie up crooks on pinyon staves, to bundle firewood into a load, and for two ends of a pack strap.  The Western Mono used the young split branches to tie together their looped stirring sticks and to assemble different types of cone-shaped storage bins for acorns and manzanita berries.

 

Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural Resources for this plant’s current status, such as, state noxious status, and wetland indicator values. 

 

Description

General: Sterculia Family (Sterculiaceae).  Named after the explorer John C. Fremont, this shrub or small tree reaches 3-8 m in height.  The twigs have dense stellate hairs.  The shrub has ovate, soft to leathery leaves with 3 main lobes with hairs on the upper and lower surfaces.  The spectacular solitary flowers are 35-60 mm wide with no petals and subtended by 3 showy yellow, sepal-like bracts.  The ovoid fruit is chambered.

 

Distribution

For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.  The shrub is found from 400-2200 m in chaparral, oak woodland, and pine forests in the California Floristic Province, Arizona, and down to Baja California.

 

Establishment

The plants grow in extremely rocky areas and are often found in crevices of rocks.  In southern California, these plants are found in areas containing very gritty soil and low rainfall.  Buy small seedlings and plant them in the fall in a pile of roadfill with no clay (mostly gravel and rock and very little soil).  Plant the seedlings in mounds in full sun.  Plant in shallow holes and make sure that no soil covers the top of the ball of soil that contains the seedlings.  Cover the soil with gravel and rock, then water.  Keep the mound moist until new growth is several inches long (not over 4 inches), then stop watering.  Water at the edge of the mound making sure that the water doesn't get within fifteen inches of the trunk of the plant.  Leave the shrub alone from then on and use no fertilizer.

 

Management

You can prune this shrub at any time of the year.  Tribes in the Sierra Nevada burned individual shrubs or areas where the shrubs grew in the fall or winter to induce rapid elongation of young epicormic branches which were harvested and split for cordage. 

 

Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

Contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil Conservation Service) office for more information.  Look in the phone book under ”United States Government.”  The Natural Resources Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading “Department of Agriculture.”

 

References

Barrett, S.A. & E.W. Gifford 1933.  Miwok material culture.  Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee 2(4):117-376.

 

Steward, J.H. 1933.  Ethnography of the Owens Valley Paiute.  University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 33(5):423-438.

 

USDA, NRCS 1999.  The PLANTS database.  National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  <https://plants.usda.gov>.  Version: 990412.

 

Voegelin, E.W. 1938.  Tubatulabal ethnography.  Anthropological Records 2(1):1-84.

 

Whetstone, R.D. & T.A. Atkinson 1993.  Sterculiaceae.  Pages 1077-1078 IN: The Jepson manual: Higher plants of California.  J.C. Hickman (ed.).  University of California Press, Berkeley, California.

 

Zigmond, M.L. 1981.  Kawaiisu ethnobotany.  University of Utah Press.  Salt Lake City, Utah.

 

Prepared By & Species Coordinator

M. Kat Anderson

USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center

c/o Environmental Horticulture Department, University of California, Davis, California

 

Wayne Roderick

Former Director of the East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Berkeley, California

 

Edited: 05dec00 jsp; 19may03 ahv; 07jun06 jsp

 

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS Web site<https://plants.usda.gov> or the Plant Materials Program Web site <https://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov>

 

 

 

Attribution:  U.S. Department of Agriculture