Flora of North America species comparison

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Ceanothus lemmonii

Ceanothus sonomensis

Lemmon's ceanothus

Sonoma ceanothus
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, 0.5–1 m, often moundlike.
Stems

erect to ascending, not rooting at nodes;

branchlets gray to grayish brown, rigid, strigillose, glabrescent.
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;

petiole 0–1 mm;

blade cupped, widely obovate to suborbiculate, 5–12 × 2–10 mm, base cuneate, margins not revolute, wavy, spinose-dentate, teeth 2–4, apex widely notched;

abaxial surface pale green or grayish green and glaucous, strigillose on veins, adaxial surface shiny green, glabrous.
Inflorescences

axillary or terminal, umbel-like to racemelike, 2–6.5 cm.

axillary or terminal, 0.8–1.5 cm.
Flowers

sepals, petals, and nectary pale to deep blue.

sepals, petals, and nectary blue to lavender.
Capsules

3–4 mm wide, lobed near apex;

valves smooth, crested.

4–5 mm wide, usually not, sometimes weakly lobed;

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

= 24.

= 24.

Ceanothus lemmonii

Ceanothus sonomensis
Phenology Flowering Apr–May. Flowering Mar–Apr.
Habitat Rocky slopes and flats, open sites, conifer forests, oak and pine woodlands. Sandy to rocky soils derived mostly from volcanic substrates, slopes, ridges, chaparral.
Elevation 200–1300 m. (700–4300 ft.) 100–700 m. (300–2300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
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.)

Ceanothus sonomensis is distinctive in having spinose-dentate, few-toothed leaves, and slender fruit horns two to three millimeters; it occurs at a few scattered localities in the mountains of Napa and Sonoma counties.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 94. FNA vol. 12, p. 103.
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. impressus, C. incanus, C. integerrimus, C. jepsonii, 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. spinosus, C. thyrsiflorus, C. tomentosus, C. velutinus, C. verrucosus
Name authority Parry: Proc. Davenport Acad. Nat. Sci. 5: 192. (1889) — (as lemmoni) J. T. Howell: Leafl. W. Bot. 2: 162. (1939)
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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