Ceanothus cyaneus |
Ceanothus cordulatus |
|
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lakeside ceanothus, San Diego buckbrush |
mountain whitethorn, snow bush, whitethorn ceanothus |
|
Habit | Shrubs, evergreen, 2–5 m. Stems erect, not rooting at nodes; branchlets light green, not thorn-tipped, angled in cross section, flexible, often tuberculate (tubercles minute, brownish), puberulent, glabrescent. | Shrubs, evergreen, 0.5–1.5 m. Stems ascending to spreading, not rooting at nodes; branchlets yellowish or grayish green, glaucescent, thorn-tipped, round in cross section, rigid, puberulent, glabrescent. |
Leaves | petiole 2–6 mm; blade flat, ovate-elliptic, 20–50 × 15–20 mm, base rounded, margins usually denticulate to serrulate, rarely entire, not revolute, teeth 23–58, apex acute to obtuse, abaxial surface pale green, veins puberulent, adaxial surface dark green, glabrous or sparsely puberulent; 3-veined from base. |
petiole 2–8 mm; blade flat to cupped, ovate to elliptic, 10–30 × 6–18 mm, base rounded, margins usually entire, sometimes minutely glandular-denticulate distally, glands 18–30, apex obtuse, abaxial surface pale grayish green, sparsely puberulent or glabrous, sometimes villosulous along veins, adaxial surface pale green to grayish green, glaucous, dull, glabrate; 3-veined from base. |
Inflorescences | terminal, paniclelike, 15–30(–40) cm. |
axillary, umbel-like or racemelike, sometimes densely clustered, 1.2–2(–4) cm. |
Flowers | sepals, petals, and nectary deep blue. |
sepals, petals, and nectary usually white, rarely pink. |
Capsules | 3–5 mm wide, deeply lobed; valves smooth, weakly crested. |
3.5–5 mm wide, lobed; valves rugose, viscid when young, weakly crested. |
2n | = 24. |
= 24. |
Ceanothus cyaneus |
Ceanothus cordulatus |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jun. | Flowering May–Jul. |
Habitat | Rocky or gravelly slopes, chaparral. | Rocky ridges and slopes, chaparral, conifer and mixed evergreen forests. |
Elevation | 40–600 m. (100–2000 ft.) | 400–3400 m. (1300–11200 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
|
CA; NV; OR; Mexico (Baja California)
|
Discussion | Ceanothus cyaneus is known in the flora area only from San Diego County, and is threatened throughout its range. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Ceanothus cordulatus is one of the most common shrubs in montane chaparral and forests of the Coast Ranges and Cascades of southern Oregon and northern California, southward through the Sierra Nevada, Transverse and Peninsular ranges of California, to the mountains of northern Baja California, and occurs disjunctly in the Charleston Mountains of Nevada. Putative hybrids between Ceanothus cordulatus and C. velutinus var. velutinus, reported from the Klamath Mountains, the southern Cascade Range, and the Sierra Nevada, have been called C. ×lorenzenii (Jepson) McMinn. A rare intersectional hybrid between C. cordulatus and C. prostratus in the Lake Tahoe basin has been named C. ×serrulatus McMinn. Putative hybrids of C. cordulatus with C. diversifolius and C. integerrimus also have been reported (H. McMinn 1944). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 90. | FNA vol. 12, p. 87. |
Parent taxa | Rhamnaceae > Ceanothus > subg. Ceanothus | Rhamnaceae > Ceanothus > subg. Ceanothus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Eastwood: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 4, 16: 361. (1927) | Kellogg: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 2: 124, fig. 39. (1863) |
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