Ceanothus cuneatus
Ceanothus ophiochilus
buck brush, common buckbrush, narrow-leaf buckthorn, sedge-leaf buckthorn, wedgeleaf cuneatus
Vail Lake ceanothus
usually both fascicled and not fascicled on same plant, rarely none fascicled;
petiole 1–3 mm;
blade flat to cupped, elliptic, oblanceolate, obovate, or orbiculate, 4–22(–30) × 3–12(–22) mm, base rounded, margins thick, not revolute, entire or denticulate distal to middle, teeth 0–9, apex obtuse, rounded, truncate, or retuse, abaxial surface pale green, glabrate or glabrous, adaxial surface green, glabrous.
both fascicled and not fascicled on same plant;
petiole 0–1 mm;
blade folded lengthwise abaxially, narrowly oblanceolate to narrowly obovate, 3–7 × 1–3 mm, base cuneate, margins not revolute, usually entire, rarely denticulate near apex, teeth 1–4, apex obtuse, rounded, or cuspidate, abaxial surface pale green, glabrate, adaxial surface pale to yellowish green, glabrate.
axillary or terminal, 0.8–2.5 cm.
axillary or terminal, 0.7–2 cm.
sepals, petals, and nectary white to lavender or blue.
sepals, petals, and nectary pale blue or pink-tinged.
4–6 mm wide, weakly lobed;
valves smooth, horns subapical, prominent, erect, intermediate ridges absent.
3–4 mm wide, not lobed;
valves smooth, horns minute or absent, intermediate ridges absent.
Ceanothus cuneatus
Ceanothus ophiochilus
Varieties 4 (4 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Ceanothus ophiochilus, known only from the northern part of the Palomar Mountains in southwestern Riverside County, is distinctive by having small, more or less terete, fascicled leaves; it is known to hybridize with C. crassifolius at one locality.
Ceanothus ophiochilus is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Leaf blades of fascicled and non-fascicled leaves elliptic to widely oblanceolate, length usually 2+ times width; sepals, petals, and nectaries usually white, sometimes pale blue or pale lavender. | var. cuneatus |
1. Leaf blades of fascicled and non-fascicled leaves widely oblanceolate, widely obovate, or orbiculate, length usually less than 2 times width, or of fascicled leaves elliptic to narrowly oblanceolate (in var. fascicularis); sepals, petals, and nectaries usually lavender to blue, sometimes pale blue, rarely white. | → 2 |
2. Leaf blades of fascicled leaves elliptic to narrowly oblanceolate, 9–15 × 3–6 mm, length usually 2+ times width. | var. fascicularis |
2. Leaf blades of fascicled leaves widely oblanceolate, widely obovate, or orbiculate, 4–15 × 3–12 mm, length less than 2 times width. | → 3 |
3. Leaf blade margins usually entire, rarely 1–4-toothed, apices rounded, truncate, or retuse. | var. ramulosus |
3. Leaf blade margins 5–9-toothed, apices rounded to truncate. | var. rigidus |
CA
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WA
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
