Ceanothus fendleri |
Ceanothus ophiochilus |
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Fendler buckbrush, Fendler's ceanothus |
Vail Lake ceanothus |
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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 to ascending, not rooting at nodes; branchlets reddish brown to gray, terete, ± flexible to rigid, glabrate. |
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). |
both fascicled and not fascicled on same plant; petiole 0–1 mm; blade folded lengthwise abaxially, narrowly oblanceolate to narrowly obovate, 3–7 × 1–3 mm, base cuneate, margins not revolute, usually entire, rarely denticulate near apex, teeth 1–4, apex obtuse, rounded, or cuspidate, abaxial surface pale green, glabrate, adaxial surface pale to yellowish green, glabrate. |
Inflorescences | terminal or axillary, usually umbel-like, sometimes racemelike, 1–3.5 cm. |
axillary or terminal, 0.7–2 cm. |
Flowers | sepals, petals, and nectary white or pinkish. |
sepals, petals, and nectary pale blue or pink-tinged. |
Capsules | 4–6 mm wide, lobed; valves smooth to rugose, viscid, usually not crested, sometimes weakly crested. |
3–4 mm wide, not lobed; valves smooth, horns minute or absent, intermediate ridges absent. |
Ceanothus fendleri |
Ceanothus ophiochilus |
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Phenology | Flowering Jan–Jul. | Flowering Mar–Apr. |
Habitat | Rocky soils, slopes, open sites, chaparral, oak-pine woodlands, conifer forests. | Rocky soils from deeply weathered gabbro or pyroxene substrates, slopes and ridges, chaparral. |
Elevation | 1400–2700 m. (4600–8900 ft.) | 600–700 m. (2000–2300 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CO; NM; SD; TX; UT; WY; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora)
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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 ophiochilus, known only from the northern part of the Palomar Mountains in southwestern Riverside County, is distinctive by having small, more or less terete, fascicled leaves; it is known to hybridize with C. crassifolius at one locality. Ceanothus ophiochilus is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 87. | FNA vol. 12, p. 108. |
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) | S. Boyd: T. S. Ross & Arnseth, Phytologia 70: 29, figs. 1–4. (1991) |
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