Azara microphylla boxleaf azara

Azara microphylla leaves. John Rawlings, ca. 2005

A small tree or shrub whose tiny yellow flowers, with a fragrance reminiscent of vanilla, come very early. By the end of March the fruits, which will be red, are forming. The ¼ -inch oval leaves have a few small teeth and each is accompanied by a smaller circular leaf that is technically a stipule. The arrangement of the leaf sprays is rather quaint.

A graceful specimen grows at Lou Henry Hoover House next to the small white gazebo (map pin). One forlorn but tenacious plant survives as of September 2005 by the old Stanford University Press Building, in a breezeway, behind two metal control boxes. Others have been removed: some on Memorial Way below a trail leading to Frost Amphitheater, and a row on Pasteur Drive approaching the entrance to Stanford Hospital. A beautiful specimen can be seen in Woodside at Filoli, perfuming its woodland garden in February.

Name derivation: Azara – after J.N. Azara, 19th-century Spanish patron of science; microphylla – small-leaved.