Grows well in full sun or light shade. A hardy shrub that can grow in most soils, but best in a sandy well-drained soil. Drought tolerant once established and cold hardy to 5° F and possibly a bit colder. Can be pruned to shape of even trained up as a small tree. A great plant for the natural California garden and useful on a slope for erosion control. Its flowers and fruit are attractive to wildlife, yet it is relatively resistant to predation by deer.

Frangula californica is native from the Southwestern Oregon south along the coast and Coast Ranges to northern Baja California and east into southern Nevada, Arizona and western New Mexico where it is a component of chaparral, woodland, and forest communities.

The name for the genus Rhamnus derives from the ancient Greek 'rabdos', meaning a "stick" in reference to the presence a woody spine on the end of each twig for certain species. The common name Coffeeberry comes from the plant looking a bit like coffee with both its foliage and red berries that age to black and also because the roasted seeds have been noted to make a caffeine-free coffee substitute but as noted below this plant is also considered to be poisonous. It has also been called California buckthorn.

We long listed this plant as Rhamnus californica but recent nomenclatural changes based on morphological differences and modern genetic data have given rise to a name change for this plant to Frangula californica. The type species (a lectotype) of this genus, Frangula alnus, is native to Europe, northernmost Africa, and western Asia. While plants remaining in the genus Rhamnus (see our listing for the Italian Buckthorn Rhamnus alaternus) are dioecious, with separate male and female plants, those now included in the genus Frangula are hermaphroditic, possessing flowers functional male (stamens) and female (pistils/carpels) reproductive organs. The genus name Frangula comes from the Latin 'frangere' meaning "to break" in reference to its brittle wood. We held off changing or listing of this plant from Rhamnus californica until it had wider recognition so as not to confuse customers but as we closed down our nursery in 2025 and were no longer selling plants, we felt it high time to list this popular California native plant under its currently correct name. We also grow the cultivars 'Eve Case', 'Leatherleaf'. and 'Mound San Bruno'.

We often get inquiries about whether the berries of Frangula californica are edible or poisonous. For many years we did not list it as poisonous since some used it as a coffee substitute and it was not listed as so in Thomas Fuller and Elizabeth McClintock in Poisonous Plants in California, the book we typically rely on for such information. It does however make it onto various poisonous plant lists such as the one included in California Native Plants for the Garden by Carol Bornstein, Dave Fross and Bart O'Brien and on Dr. Ann King Filmer's list on the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences website Safe and Poisonous Garden Plants. While there is some indication that aboriginal Californians may have used the berries as a food source and some suggest the fruit can be used to make a coffee like beverage, a jam or even be eaten raw, the general consensus is that if one eats enough of the berries or they are particularly sensitive, then it could make one sick. Another way to judge this is that, while this plant does come up on poisonous plant lists, it does not come up on any credible edible plant or forage plant lists. Compared to much more toxic plants, it seems clear that this plant is not very poisonous, but enough so that we have decided to note on our website that it be considered a poisonous plant. 

The information displayed on this page about Frangula californica is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.