Flora of North America species comparison

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Ceanothus impressus

Ceanothus ferrisiae

Santa Barbara ceanothus

coyote 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. Shrubs, 1–2 m. Stems erect, not rooting at nodes; branchlets grayish brown, glaucous, rigid, 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.

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

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

terminal, 1.2–1.5(–2) cm.
Flowers

sepals, petals, and nectary blue.

sepals and petals white;

nectary dark blue to purple.
Capsules

3–4 mm wide, lobed;

valves smooth, crested.

7–9 mm wide, weakly lobed;

valves ± smooth, horns subapical, prominent, erect, intermediate ridges absent.
2n

= 24.

Ceanothus impressus

Ceanothus ferrisiae
Phenology Flowering Jan–May.
Habitat Serpentine soils and outcrops, chaparral, pine and oak woodlands.
Elevation 100–500 m. (300–1600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

(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.)
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. FNA vol. 12, p. 101.
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. 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
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. 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
Subordinate taxa
C. impressus var. impressus, C. impressus var. nipomensis
Name authority Trelease: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 2, 1: 112. (1888) McMinn: Madroño 2: 89. (1933) — (as ferrisae)
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).



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