Flora of North America species comparison

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Ceanothus diversifolius

Ceanothus griseus

pine mat

Carmel ceanothus
Habit Shrubs, evergreen, 0.2–0.3(–0.5) m, matlike. Shrubs, sometimes arborescent, evergreen, 0.5–4 m. Stems erect, ascending to arcuate, rarely prostrate, not rooting at nodes; branchlets green, not thorn-tipped, angled in cross section, flexible, sparsely puberulent or glabrous.
Stems

spreading, sometimes rooting at nodes;

branchlets green, sometimes tinged red, not thorn-tipped, usually round, sometimes angled, in cross section, flexible, puberulent.

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.

petiole 5–10 mm;

blade flat to cupped, ovate to suborbiculate, 10–45 × 10–30 mm, base obtuse to rounded, margins denticulate, ± revolute, teeth 21–45, apex obtuse to rounded, abaxial surface pale green, puberulent to densely villosulous, veins prominently raised, puberulent to villosulous, adaxial surface dark green, glabrate; 3-veined from base.
Inflorescences

axillary, umbel-like to racemelike, 1.3–4 cm.

axillary, paniclelike, 2–7 cm.
Flowers

sepals, petals, and nectary usually blue to pale blue, rarely white.

sepals, petals, and nectary blue.
Capsules

4–5 mm wide, weakly lobed near apex;

valves smooth, crested.

3–4 mm wide, weakly lobed at apex;

valves smooth, viscid, not crested.

Ceanothus diversifolius

Ceanothus griseus
Phenology Flowering Apr–Jun. Flowering Mar–Jun.
Habitat Well-drained slopes and canyons, open to shaded sites, mixed evergreen and conifer forests. Sandy or rocky flats and slopes, maritime chaparral, open sites in pine and cypress forests.
Elevation 700–2300 m. (2300–7500 ft.) 10–200 m. (0–700 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
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 griseus is distributed along the coast from Mendocino County south to Santa Barbara County. Plants with incompletely revolute leaf margins and abaxial surfaces intermediate or similar to those of C. thyrsiflorus are encountered frequently. Whether this pattern is a result of primary or secondary intergradation is not known. Prostrate plants with wide elliptic leaves have been called C. griseus var. horizontalis McMinn; they retain their stature under cultivation. Putative hybrids with C. dentatus have been named C. ×lobbianus Hooker (M. Van Rensselaer and H. McMinn 1942). Ceanothus ×veitchianus Hooker is a rare intersubgeneric hybrid between C. griseus and C. rigidus, first collected by William Lobb near Monterey in 1853, that is cultivated in Great Britain as an ornamental.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 94. FNA vol. 12, p. 91.
Parent taxa Rhamnaceae > Ceanothus > subg. Ceanothus Rhamnaceae > Ceanothus > subg. Ceanothus
Sibling taxa
C. americanus, C. arboreus, C. arcuatus, C. confusus, C. cordulatus, C. crassifolius, C. cuneatus, C. cyaneus, C. dentatus, C. divergens, 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. 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
Synonyms C. decumbens C. thyrsiflorus var. griseus, C. griseus var. horizontalis
Name authority Kellogg: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 1: 58. (1855) (Trelease) McMinn: in M. van Rensselaer and H. McMinn, Ceanothus, 210. (1942)
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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