Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Ceanothus fendleri

Ceanothus confusus

Fendler buckbrush, Fendler's ceanothus

Rincon Ridge ceanothus
Habit Shrubs, evergreen, 0.5–1.5 m. Stems erect, ascending, or spreading, rooting at proximal nodes; branchlets green to grayish green, thorn-tipped, round in cross section, rigid, canescent, often glaucous. Shrubs, 0.1–0.6 m, matlike to moundlike.
Stems

prostrate, spreading, or weakly ascending, often rooting at proximal nodes;

branchlets brown to reddish brown, ± rigid, glabrous or sparsely puberulent.
Leaves

petiole 1–4 mm;

blade flat, elliptic, ovate, or orbiculate, 8–25(–30) × 3–8(–14) mm, base cuneate to rounded, margins usually entire, rarely serrulate near apex, teeth 3–7, apex obtuse to rounded, abaxial surface pale green or grayish green and glaucous, appressed-villosulous to tomentulose, especially along veins, adaxial surface dark green, dull, appressed-villosulous or glabrous; 3-veined from base (lateral veins sometimes obscure).

not fascicled, not crowded, shorter than internodes;

petiole 0–2 mm;

blade flat to ± cupped, elliptic to ± oblong or obovate, 10–20 × 5–14 mm, base obtuse to cuneate, margins thick or slightly revolute, slightly wavy, sharply dentate to spinose-dentate, teeth 3–9, apex acute or retuse, with an apical tooth, abaxial surface grayish green, strigillose on veins, adaxial surface green, dull, glabrous.
Inflorescences

terminal or axillary, usually umbel-like, sometimes racemelike, 1–3.5 cm.

axillary, 1.5–3 cm.
Flowers

sepals, petals, and nectary white or pinkish.

sepals, petals, and nectary blue, lavender, or purple.
Capsules

4–6 mm wide, lobed;

valves smooth to rugose, viscid, usually not crested, sometimes weakly crested.

4–6 mm wide, lobed;

valves smooth, crested, horns subapical, prominent, erect, intermediate ridges weakly developed.
2n

= 24.

Ceanothus fendleri

Ceanothus confusus
Phenology Flowering Jan–Jul. Flowering Feb–May.
Habitat Rocky soils, slopes, open sites, chaparral, oak-pine woodlands, conifer forests. Rocky soils apparently derived from serpentine or volcanic substrates, chaparral, oak and pine woodlands, conifer forests.
Elevation 1400–2700 m. (4600–8900 ft.) 70–1000 m. (200–3300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; NM; SD; TX; UT; WY; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
Discussion

Plants of Ceanothus fendleri with glabrous leaves found throughout its range have been called var. viridis. The name C. fendleri var. venosus has been applied to plants with widely elliptic, villosulous leaf blades. Such plants are similar to C. buxifolius of northern Mexico (Chihuahua and Sonora), which has glabrous or sparsely puberulent leaf blades and ± persistent glands on denticulate leaf margins. Putative hybrids between C. fendleri and C. herbaceus in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains were named C. ×subsericeus Rydberg.

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

Ceanothus confusus is weakly defined and perhaps best treated as a part of C. divergens (L. Abrams and R. S. Ferris 1923–1960, vol. 3). At least some populations in the Hood Mountains (Napa and Sonoma counties) include plants with the habit and leaf morphology of both species, while other, more uniform populations appear intermediate; it remains to be determined whether this pattern is a product of primary or secondary intergradation.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 87. FNA vol. 12, p. 104.
Parent taxa Rhamnaceae > Ceanothus > subg. Ceanothus Rhamnaceae > Ceanothus > subg. Cerastes
Sibling taxa
C. americanus, C. arboreus, C. arcuatus, C. confusus, C. cordulatus, C. crassifolius, C. cuneatus, C. cyaneus, C. dentatus, C. divergens, C. diversifolius, 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. 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. 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. fendleri var. venosus, C. fendleri var. viridis
Name authority A. Gray: Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n. s. 4: 29. (1849) J. T. Howell: Leafl. W. Bot. 2: 160. (1939)
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).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers