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By Stephen Buckout

[The Dirca occidentalis, which can be found along the lower Sylvan Trail, will be coming into bloom in the next couple of months. -Ed]

Dirca occidentalis is California’s only member of the family Thymelaeaceae, the Mezereum family. The family has 40 genera and 400-500 species, mostly tropical, but is well represented in Asia and Europe. The genus Daphne belongs to the Thymelaeaceae family and the familiar Daphne odora is from China and Japan. Daphne mezereum, which is from Europe, was one of the first species described.

The genus Dirca has two species, both native to North America. Dirca palustris, a wide-ranging species, is found from Ontario to Florida and west to Missouri. Dirca occidentalis is endemic to the San Francisco Bay region--Sonoma, Marin, Contra Costa, Alameda, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. The type locality is Oakland, California, more specifically, the Oakland Hills, where it was collected by Bigelow and described by Asa Gray.

The name Dirca is Greek and is a name of a fountain in Thebes, the plants being associated with moist places. The root of the name of the eastern species, palu-, means a stake, marsh, or swamp. This eastern leatherwood evidently favors wetter ground than our western species.

Dirca is a winter deciduous and has very leathery bark and pliable wood. The wood is pliable because of the s-shaped arrangement of the lignified tissue in the fibrovascular bundles.

The flowers occur in fascicles of 2 or 3 from lateral and terminal buds. The buds contain flowers and leaves. The scales of the buds are whitish and fall early. The flower lacks petals but the calyx is lemon yellow as well as the 8-10 stamens. The flower is about 1/3" high. The flowers are bisexual with a superior ovary which ripens into a fruit that is a drupe-like berry about 1/2" long. One may see the fruit from late June through July.

Dirca prefers moist wooded hillsides and is often found associated with California buckeye, coast live oak, and madrone.

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