Flora of North America species comparison

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Ceanothus impressus

Ceanothus herbaceus

Santa Barbara ceanothus

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

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.
Inflorescences

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

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

sepals, petals, and nectary blue.

sepals, petals, and nectary white.
Capsules

3–4 mm wide, lobed;

valves smooth, crested.

3–5 mm wide, lobed;

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

Ceanothus impressus

Ceanothus herbaceus
Phenology Flowering Mar–Aug.
Habitat Open rocky areas or on sandy soils, slopes and bluffs in shrublands, prairies, forests.
Elevation 10–1800 m. (0–5900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

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

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.)
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. 82.
Parent taxa Rhamnaceae > Ceanothus > subg. Ceanothus 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
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
Subordinate taxa
C. impressus var. impressus, C. impressus var. nipomensis
Synonyms C. herbaceus var. pubescens, C. ovatus, C. ovatus var. pubescens
Name authority Trelease: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 2, 1: 112. (1888) Rafinesque: Med. Repos., hexade 2, 5: 360. (1808)
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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