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Dirca occidentalis (Western leatherwood) is a rare shrub that is native to California and endemic (limited) to California in the San Francisco Bay area. Its low growth, dispersal, and germination rates limit how quickly populations can recover from loss. Its very low seed dispersal rate may suggest that its natural disperser disappeared from the region.

Each blue dot and yellow square on this map represent a known albeit obscured location of Dirca occidentalis. These locations come from Calflora's many data sources. Calflora aggregates plant distributions from thousands of sources including government agencies, land managers, iNaturalist, CCH plant specimens, and you.

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Photos by William Blaker

If you visit where D. occidentalis grows in winter, you might see it in bloom. Calflora bloom wheels represent average bloom periods across the state from thousands of aggregated data sources.

Quiz: On which type of soil is D. occidentalis almost always found? Reply to this email with your response!