Common Name: 
Mountain-mahogany

Six species of evergreen or semi-evergreen shrubs or small trees.  Leaves alternate, simple, often clustered, short petiole.  Flowers inconspicuous, whitish-yellow, calyx tubular, abruptly broadening to a cup shape, 5-lobed, petals absent.  Fruit a small nutlet, with a persistent, plumose style.
Cercocarpus: from the Greek kerkos, tail, and karpos, fruit, a reference to the tail-like plume.

Pronunciation: 
ser-ko-KAR-pus
Family: 
Rosaceae