Ceanothus diversifolius |
Ceanothus arcuatus |
|
---|---|---|
pine mat |
arching ceanothus |
|
Habit | Shrubs, evergreen, 0.2–0.3(–0.5) m, matlike. | Shrubs, 0.3–0.8 m, moundlike. |
Stems | spreading, sometimes rooting at nodes; branchlets green, sometimes tinged red, not thorn-tipped, usually round, sometimes angled, in cross section, flexible, puberulent. |
ascending or spreading, not rooting at nodes; branchlets brown to grayish brown, ± rigid, tomentulose, glabrescent. |
Leaves | petiole 3–11 mm; blade flat, elliptic to widely ovate, 12–45 × 6–20 mm, base obtuse to rounded, margins serrulate to denticulate, not revolute, usually not wavy, sometimes wavy, teeth 27–42, apex ± obtuse to rounded, abaxial surface pale green, pilosulous, adaxial surface green, pilosulous; usually pinnately veined, rarely 3-veined from base. |
sometimes fascicled, axillary short shoots ascending to spreading; petiole 1–2 mm; blade flat, elliptic to oblanceolate, 4–10 × 2–5 mm, base rounded, margins thick, not revolute, usually entire, rarely denticulate near apex, teeth 1–3, apex rounded to obtuse, abaxial surface green to pale green, glabrate, adaxial surface pale green, glabrous. |
Inflorescences | axillary, umbel-like to racemelike, 1.3–4 cm. |
axillary or terminal, 0.8–2.5 cm. |
Flowers | sepals, petals, and nectary usually blue to pale blue, rarely white. |
sepals and petals white to pale blue; nectary pale blue or yellow tinged. |
Capsules | 4–5 mm wide, weakly lobed near apex; valves smooth, crested. |
4–6 mm wide, not to weakly lobed; valves smooth to rugulose, horns subapical, prominent, erect, intermediate ridges absent. |
Ceanothus diversifolius |
Ceanothus arcuatus |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jun. | Flowering May–Jun. |
Habitat | Well-drained slopes and canyons, open to shaded sites, mixed evergreen and conifer forests. | Granitic or serpentine soils, conifer forests. |
Elevation | 700–2300 m. (2300–7500 ft.) | 900–2300 m. (3000–7500 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA
|
CA; OR |
Discussion | Ceanothus diversifolius occurs in the North Coast Ranges and the western slopes of the Cascade Range and the Sierra Nevada; it often forms mats to two meters wide. Marginal teeth on young leaves are notable in having more or less persistent, narrowly conic glands, not seen elsewhere in Ceanothus. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Ceanothus arcuatus was explicitly described as a species by McMinn but inexplicably treated as a hybrid between C. fresnensis and C. cuneatus by P. A. Munz (1959). Munz may have been influenced by McMinn’s hypothesis that C. arcuatus was derived through hybridization between the two species. Some specimens from the Klamath Mountains have been either interpreted as C. cuneatus or misidentified as hybrids between C. pumilus and C. cuneatus. Populations of C. arcuatus are relatively uniform throughout their geographic distribution and often represent the dominant understory shrub in conifer forests of the Klamath Mountains and Sierra Nevada. Ceanothus arcuatus occurs primarily on metamorphic substrates in the Klamath Mountains and the northern Sierra Nevada, but in the central Sierra Nevada (Nevada County south to Madera County), the most common substrate is granitic. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 94. | FNA vol. 12, p. 101. |
Parent taxa | Rhamnaceae > Ceanothus > subg. Ceanothus | Rhamnaceae > Ceanothus > subg. Cerastes |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. decumbens | |
Name authority | Kellogg: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 1: 58. (1855) | McMinn: in M. van Rensselaer and H. McMinn, Ceanothus, 247, fig. 82. (1942) |
Web links |
|