Flora of North America species comparison

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Ceanothus cuneatus

Ceanothus otayensis

buck brush, common buckbrush, narrow-leaf buckthorn, sedge-leaf buckthorn, wedgeleaf cuneatus

Otay Mountain ceanothus
Habit Shrubs, 0.5–3.5 m. Stems erect, ascending, or spreading, not rooting at nodes; branchlets grayish brown to brown, rigid or flexible, glabrate, puberulent, or tomentulose, hairs straight. Shrubs, 1–3.5 m. Stems erect to ascending, not rooting at nodes; branchlets grayish brown to brown, ± flexible to rigid, tomentulose.
Leaves

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.

not fascicled;

petiole 0–2 mm;

blade flat to ± cupped, widely elliptic to obovate, 5–13 × 4–10 mm, base cuneate, margins revolute, sometimes wavy, coarsely denticulate near apex, teeth 3–5, apex truncate, retuse, or cuspidate, abaxial surface green, tomentulose, adaxial surface green, glabrous or sparsely puberulent.
Inflorescences

axillary or terminal, 0.8–2.5 cm.

axillary or terminal, 0.6–1.8 cm.
Flowers

sepals, petals, and nectary white to lavender or blue.

sepals and petals white;

nectary tan to brown.
Capsules

4–6 mm wide, weakly lobed;

valves smooth, horns subapical, prominent, erect, intermediate ridges absent.

4–6 mm wide, weakly lobed;

valves smooth, horns minute or absent, intermediate ridges absent.

Ceanothus cuneatus

Ceanothus otayensis
Phenology Flowering Jan–Apr.
Habitat Rocky slopes, chaparral.
Elevation 500–1100 m. (1600–3600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR; nw Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 4 (4 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Ceanothus otayensis is known from the Otay and San Miguel Mountains, southern San Diego County, with at least one locality in northern Baja California. McMinn described C. otayensis as a hybrid between C. crassifolius and C. perplexans. However, neither of the putative parents occurs sympatrically with C. otayensis, and its populations do not display the increased variation expected from hybridization.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
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
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 99. FNA vol. 12, p. 108.
Parent taxa Rhamnaceae > Ceanothus > subg. Cerastes Rhamnaceae > Ceanothus > subg. Cerastes
Sibling taxa
C. americanus, C. arboreus, C. arcuatus, C. confusus, C. cordulatus, C. crassifolius, C. cyaneus, C. dentatus, C. divergens, C. diversifolius, C. fendleri, C. ferrisiae, C. foliosus, C. fresnensis, C. gloriosus, C. griseus, C. hearstiorum, C. herbaceus, C. impressus, C. incanus, C. integerrimus, C. jepsonii, C. lemmonii, C. leucodermis, C. maritimus, C. martini, C. masonii, C. megacarpus, C. microphyllus, C. oliganthus, C. ophiochilus, C. otayensis, C. palmeri, C. papillosus, C. parryi, C. parvifolius, C. pauciflorus, C. perplexans, C. pinetorum, C. prostratus, C. pumilus, C. purpureus, C. roderickii, C. sanguineus, C. sonomensis, C. spinosus, C. thyrsiflorus, C. tomentosus, C. velutinus, C. verrucosus
C. americanus, C. arboreus, C. arcuatus, C. confusus, C. cordulatus, C. crassifolius, C. cuneatus, C. cyaneus, C. dentatus, C. divergens, C. diversifolius, C. fendleri, C. ferrisiae, C. foliosus, C. fresnensis, C. gloriosus, C. griseus, C. hearstiorum, C. herbaceus, C. impressus, C. incanus, C. integerrimus, C. jepsonii, C. lemmonii, C. leucodermis, C. maritimus, C. martini, C. masonii, C. megacarpus, C. microphyllus, C. oliganthus, C. ophiochilus, C. palmeri, C. papillosus, C. parryi, C. parvifolius, C. pauciflorus, C. perplexans, C. pinetorum, C. prostratus, C. pumilus, C. purpureus, C. roderickii, C. sanguineus, C. sonomensis, C. spinosus, C. thyrsiflorus, C. tomentosus, C. velutinus, C. verrucosus
Subordinate taxa
C. cuneatus var. cuneatus, C. cuneatus var. fascicularis, C. cuneatus var. ramulosus, C. cuneatus var. rigidus
Synonyms Rhamnus cuneata
Name authority (Hooker) Nuttall: in J. Torrey and A. Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1: 267. (1838) McMinn: in M. van Rensselaer and H. McMinn, Ceanothus, 273, fig. 102. (1942) — as hybrid
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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