Flora of North America species comparison

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Ceanothus herbaceus

Ceanothus verrucosus

céanothe á feuilles étroites, inland Jersey tea, Jersey tea, New Jersey tea, prairie redroot

barranca brush, wart-stem ceanothus, white coast ceanothus
Habit Shrubs, deciduous, 0.6–1 m. Stems erect to ascending, not rooting at nodes; branchlets green, brown, or reddish, not thorn-tipped, round in cross section, flexible, ± appressed-puberulent or villosulous, glabrescent. Shrubs, 1–3 m. Stems erect to ascending, not rooting at nodes; branchlets grayish brown, rigid, tomentulose.
Leaves

petiole 2–6(–10) mm;

blade not aromatic, flat, usually elliptic to lanceolate, sometimes ovate or oblanceolate, (20–)25–70 × 10–30 mm, herbaceous, not resinous, base cuneate to rounded, margins serrate to serrulate, teeth (37–)45–71, apex acute to obtuse, abaxial surface pale green, glabrous or puberulent, especially on veins, adaxial surface dark green, dull, villosulous or glabrate; 3-veined from base.

alternate, not fascicled, often crowded;

petiole 1–3 mm;

blade flat to cupped, widely obovate to suborbiculate, 5–14 × 3–10 mm, base cuneate to rounded, margins not revolute, entire to weakly denticulate distal to middle, teeth 9–16, apex truncate to retuse, abaxial surface pale green, sparsely strigillose, glabrescent, adaxial surface dark green, glabrous.
Inflorescences

terminal, umbel-like, globose to hemispheric, 4–8 cm.

axillary, 1–1.5 cm.
Flowers

sepals, petals, and nectary white.

sepals and petals white;

nectary black.
Capsules

3–5 mm wide, lobed;

valves smooth, usually not crested, sometimes weakly crested near apex.

4–6 mm wide, weakly lobed;

valves smooth, horns minute or absent, intermediate ridges absent.
2n

= 24.

Ceanothus herbaceus

Ceanothus verrucosus
Phenology Flowering Mar–Aug. Flowering Jan–Apr.
Habitat Open rocky areas or on sandy soils, slopes and bluffs in shrublands, prairies, forests. Slopes, coastal mesas, chaparral, pine woodlands.
Elevation 10–1800 m. (0–5900 ft.) 20–800 m. (100–2600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AR; CO; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MI; MN; MO; MT; ND; NE; NH; NM; NY; OH; OK; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WY; MB; ON; QC; Mexico (Coahuila)
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[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
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[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Ceanothus herbaceus is an older name than C. ovatus, which has been used widely in botanical and horticultural literature (G. K. Brizicky 1964c). Plants with persistently puberulent leaves occur principally east of the Mississippi River Valley and have been called var. pubescens, but the extent of intergradation occurs over a broad geographic area and deserves further study (N. C. Coile 1988). Putative hybrids between C. herbaceus and C. fendleri in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains were named C. ×subsericeus Rydberg.

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

Ceanothus verrucosus occurs from San Diego County to the foothills of the Sierra San Pedro Mártir and Cedros Island in northern Baja California, Mexico; its habitat is threatened by development and urbanization throughout its range.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 82. FNA vol. 12, p. 97.
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. fendleri, C. ferrisiae, C. foliosus, C. fresnensis, C. gloriosus, C. griseus, C. hearstiorum, 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. 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
Synonyms C. herbaceus var. pubescens, C. ovatus, C. ovatus var. pubescens
Name authority Rafinesque: Med. Repos., hexade 2, 5: 360. (1808) Nuttall: in J. Torrey and A. Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1: 267. (1838)
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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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