PNW Native
Ocean Spray shrubs grow from 4-12 ft tall, leaves are distinct and deeply-lobed with coarse and fine teeth around the leaf margin. Miniscule white flowers grow in 4-7 in. long conical clusters. The flower clusters' lacy, abundant appearance is distinctive. Seeds are tiny, hairy achenes. Range is W. North America. (Mackinnon and Pojar, 1994)
Ocean spray thrives at low to middle elevations and prefers open space, clearings, and forest. It tolerates dryness and moisture. The shrub provides grazing for deer, elk, cattle, snowshoe hares, and dusky-footed woodrats. Ocean spray provides important cover and habitat for small animals such as rodents, birds, and treefrogs. (Gonzalves, 2007)
A common nickname for ocean spray is “ironwood”, due to its strength, which was increased by roasting it over a fire. Practically all coastal groups south of Southern British Columbia, including Straits Salish, Squamish, Sechelt, and Kwakwaka'wakw tribes used ocean spray for digging sticks, harpoon shafts, spears, bows, and arrows. Saanich and Cowichan tribes used ocean spray as bark scrapers, halibut hooks, and salmon-roasting skewers. Among others, Saanich and Stl’atl’imx tribes would steep fruiting ocean spray clusters into a tea as an aid for diarrhea, and later, as a treatment for disease such as measles and chickenpox spread by colonization.
Early settlers made pegs out of the wood as a substitute for nails. (Mackinnon and Pojar, 1994)
Ocean spray has low viability for livestock grazing, but it does have antifungal, antiviral, and cytotoxic qualities. The shrub is a choice ornamental along highways and in landscape painting due to their elegant and abundant floral clusters and their ability to provide ecosystem to important insects. (Fryer, 2010)
[1] "Fryer, Janet L. (2010). Holodiscus discolor. In: Fire Effects Information System,. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/holdis/all.html.
[2] Pete Gonzalves and Dale Darris. (2007). USDA NRCS Plant Materials Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
MacKinnon, A., & Pojar, J. (1994). Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast: Washington, Oregon, British Columbia & Alaska. Lone Pine Publishing : Partners Publishing : B.C. Ministry of Forests.
Mathews, D. (2021). Cascadia revealed: A guide to the plants, Animals & Geology of the Pacific Northwest Mountains. Timber Press, Inc.
