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Holodiscus discolor
Also called Creambush, Creambush Oceanspray, Hillside Oceanspray, Ocean Spray, Bush Oceanspray, Glandular Oceanspray, Mountain Spray
Oceanspray is a fast-growing deciduous shrub native to western North America, grown for its cascading clusters of creamy white flowers in late spring. It tolerates a wide range of conditions, from dry slopes to mountain forest understory.
Holodiscus discolor, commonly known as ocean spray or oceanspray, creambush, ironwood, mountain spray, and rock-spiraea, is a shrub of western North America.
The plant is common in the Pacific Northwest, and throughout California in diverse habitats including California mixed evergreen forest, California oak woodlands, chaparral, Coast redwood forest, Douglas-fir forest, Yellow pine forest, Red fir forest, and Lodgepole pine forest. It is native to regions of California including the High Sierra Nevada, Northern and Southern California Coast Ranges, Klamath Mountains, Santa Cruz Mountains, Western Transverse Ranges, and the San Gabriel Mountains.
Historically, the plant has been used by Indigenous peoples for many purposes. Raw and cooked seeds were eaten, and leaves were mixed with those of other plants and boiled with small game animals. Many tribes used the wood and bark for making tools and furniture. Noted for the strength of its wood, it was often used for making digging sticks, spears, arrows, bows, harpoons and nails. The wood, like with many other plants, was often hardened with fire and was then polished using horsetail.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Holodiscus discolor by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
