Ceanothus lemmonii |
Ceanothus prostratus |
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Lemmon's ceanothus |
mahala mat, prostrate ceanothus, squawcarpet |
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Habit | Shrubs, evergreen, 0.5–1 m. Stems ascending to spreading, not rooting at nodes; branchlets pale green to grayish green and glaucous, not thorn-tipped, round in cross section, flexible to ± rigid, sparsely villosulous. | Shrubs, 0.1–0.3 m, matlike to moundlike. | ||||
Stems | prostrate, spreading, or ascending, rooting at distal nodes; branchlets reddish brown, ± flexible, puberulent, glabrescent. |
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Leaves | petiole 2–6 mm; blade flat, narrowly elliptic to oblong-elliptic, 13–35 × 6–15 mm, base cuneate to rounded, margins serrulate to denticulate most of length, not revolute, not wavy, teeth 34–45, apex acute to obtuse, abaxial surface pale green to grayish green and glaucous, villosulous, especially on veins, adaxial surface green, strigillose; pinnately veined or weakly 3-veined from base. |
not fascicled, crowded, usually longer than internodes and obscuring them; petiole 1–3 mm; blade flat to ± cupped, elliptic to obovate, 6–30 × 4–16 mm, base cuneate, margins sometimes thick, not revolute, sometimes wavy, sharply dentate to spinose-dentate, teeth 3–9, apex rounded, abaxial surface pale green, glabrous except sparsely strigillose on veins, adaxial surface dark green, shiny, glabrate. |
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Inflorescences | axillary or terminal, umbel-like to racemelike, 2–6.5 cm. |
axillary, 0.9–2 cm. |
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Flowers | sepals, petals, and nectary pale to deep blue. |
sepals, petals, and nectary pale to deep blue or purplish blue. |
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Capsules | 3–4 mm wide, lobed near apex; valves smooth, crested. |
6–9 mm wide, lobed; valves smooth to rugulose, horns subapical, prominent, erect or spreading, rugose or not, intermediate ridges present. |
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2n | = 24. |
= 24. |
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Ceanothus lemmonii |
Ceanothus prostratus |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr–May. | |||||
Habitat | Rocky slopes and flats, open sites, conifer forests, oak and pine woodlands. | |||||
Elevation | 200–1300 m. (700–4300 ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
CA
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CA; ID; NV; OR; WA
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Discussion | Ceanothus lemmonii occurs in the inner North Coast Ranges, Klamath Mountains, and the western slope of the Cascade Range and northern Sierra Nevada. H. McMinn (1944) reported putative hybrids with C. foliosus, C. integerrimus, and C. oliganthus var. sorediatus. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). Putative hybrids between Ceanothus prostratus and C. velutinus var. velutinus, named C. ×rugosus, have been reported from northeastern California (H. McMinn 1944). A rare putative hybrid between C. prostratus and C. cordulatus in the Lake Tahoe basin has been named C. ×serrulatus. Both C. ×rugosus and C. ×serrulatus are intersubgeneric hybrids. Formally named hybrids between C. prostratus and C. cuneatus var. cuneatus include C. ×flexilis and possibly C. ×connivens, but the latter could have C. fresnensis as one of the parents rather than C. prostratus. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 94. | FNA vol. 12, p. 104. | ||||
Parent taxa | Rhamnaceae > Ceanothus > subg. Ceanothus | Rhamnaceae > Ceanothus > subg. Cerastes | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Name authority | Parry: Proc. Davenport Acad. Nat. Sci. 5: 192. (1889) — (as lemmoni) | Bentham: Pl. Hartw., 302. (1849) | ||||
Web links |