Coffee! (berry)

Rhamnus californica, Pacifica, CA

Coffeeberry (Rhamnus californica) is one of my favorite California shrubs. I dig its deeply grooved, rich green leaves. I'm not sure what it is that I like about it, other than that. Its very name may actually have something to do with it, though. Those of you who know me are familiar with my fixation/obsession/addiction to coffee. I drink it daily. I sometimes roast it. I put it in homebrew. I agonize without it. I've even started a collection of old rusty coffee cans (contributions welcome). So, the very word "coffee" in the name of this shrub soothes me, I think.

I think coffee can be made with the berries, when properly dried, roasted, or otherwise prepared, but I could be wrong. I'll have to check my ethnobotany sources.  It may just have gotten its name from the resemblance of its berries to those of coffee.

This is a close relative to a shrub, common buckthorn, that I used to spend hours removing from the forest understory in the Midwest. I think my parents finally extirpated it from their yard before moving from our childhood house.

I was fascinated with the uniform appearance of this individual's leaves -- the pattern or texture that it created. The light quality is indicative of a winter evening, as indeed it was in February, nearing sunset, that I shot this.