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Santa Barbara ceanothus

Habit Shrubs, evergreen, 0.5–3 m. Stems erect, not rooting at nodes; branchlets brown, not thorn-tipped, round in cross section, flexible, puberulent.
Leaves

petiole 0–4 mm;

blade ± flat to strongly cupped, oblong, elliptic, or suborbiculate, 5–20(–25) × 2.5–17(–20) mm, base rounded, margins serrulate, thick to weakly or strongly revolute, teeth 11–29, apex obtuse to rounded, abaxial surface pale green, villosulous, adaxial surface dark to medium green, sparsely puberulent, not glandular papillate; pinnately veined, veins furrowed.

Inflorescences

axillary or terminal, umbel-like to racemelike, 1.2–3.5 cm.

Flowers

sepals, petals, and nectary blue.

Capsules

3–4 mm wide, lobed;

valves smooth, crested.

Ceanothus impressus

Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

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

Key
1. Leaf blades oblong to elliptic, 5–11(–14) × 2.5–8(–12) mm, strongly cupped, margins strongly revolute.
var. impressus
1. Leaf blades widely elliptic to suborbiculate, 11–20(–25) × 7–17(–20) mm, ± flat to cupped, margins thick to weakly revolute.
var. nipomensis
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 91.
Parent taxa 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. diversifolius, C. fendleri, C. ferrisiae, C. foliosus, C. fresnensis, C. gloriosus, C. griseus, C. hearstiorum, C. herbaceus, 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
Subordinate taxa
C. impressus var. impressus, C. impressus var. nipomensis
Name authority Trelease: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 2, 1: 112. (1888)
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