Ceanothus fendleri |
Ceanothus ferrisiae |
|
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Fendler buckbrush, Fendler's ceanothus |
coyote 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, 1–2 m. Stems erect, not rooting at nodes; branchlets grayish brown, glaucous, rigid, 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; petiole 1–3 mm; blade flat or ± cupped, widely elliptic to widely obovate, 11–30 × 7–18 mm, base obtuse to rounded, margins not revolute, usually denticulate, rarely entire, teeth 6–13, apex rounded, abaxial surface pale green, sparsely strigillose between veins, adaxial surface dark green, glabrate. |
Inflorescences | terminal or axillary, usually umbel-like, sometimes racemelike, 1–3.5 cm. |
terminal, 1.2–1.5(–2) cm. |
Flowers | sepals, petals, and nectary white or pinkish. |
sepals and petals white; nectary dark blue to purple. |
Capsules | 4–6 mm wide, lobed; valves smooth to rugose, viscid, usually not crested, sometimes weakly crested. |
7–9 mm wide, weakly lobed; valves ± smooth, horns subapical, prominent, erect, intermediate ridges absent. |
2n | = 24. |
|
Ceanothus fendleri |
Ceanothus ferrisiae |
|
Phenology | Flowering Jan–Jul. | Flowering Jan–May. |
Habitat | Rocky soils, slopes, open sites, chaparral, oak-pine woodlands, conifer forests. | Serpentine soils and outcrops, chaparral, pine and oak woodlands. |
Elevation | 1400–2700 m. (4600–8900 ft.) | 100–500 m. (300–1600 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CO; NM; SD; TX; UT; WY; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora)
|
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 ferrisiae, federally listed as endangered, occurs at a few localities in the foothills of the Mount Hamilton Range northeast of Morgan Hill, Santa Clara County. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 87. | FNA vol. 12, p. 101. |
Parent taxa | Rhamnaceae > Ceanothus > subg. Ceanothus | Rhamnaceae > Ceanothus > subg. Cerastes |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. fendleri var. venosus, C. fendleri var. viridis | |
Name authority | A. Gray: Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n. s. 4: 29. (1849) | McMinn: Madroño 2: 89. (1933) — (as ferrisae) |
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