Garrya

Garrya is a genus of about 18 species of flowering plants in the family Garryaceae, native to North and Central America and the Caribbean. Common names include silk tassel, and tassel bush

They are evergreen dioecious wind-pollinated shrubs growing to 1-5 m tall. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, and are simple, leathery, dark green to gray-green, ovate, 3-15 cm long, with an entire margin and a short petiole. The flowers are gray-green catkins, short and spreading when first produced in late summer; the male catkins becoming long and pendulous in late winter when shedding pollen, 3-20 cm long; the female catkins usually a little shorter and less pendulous. The fruit is a round dry berry containing two seeds.