Flora of North America species comparison

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Ceanothus megacarpus

Ceanothus lemmonii

big pod ceanothus

Lemmon's ceanothus
Habit Shrubs, 1.5–6 m. Stems erect to ascending, not rooting at nodes; branchlets grayish brown to brown, flexible, appressed puberulent to tomentulose, hairs straight. 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.
Leaves

sometimes alternate, not fascicled, sometimes crowded;

petiole 1–5 mm;

blade flat to cupped, oval, elliptic, or oblanceolate, 10–25(–33) × 5–19 mm, base cuneate to rounded, margins thick, usually entire, rarely remotely denticulate, teeth 5–7, apex obtuse, abaxial surface pale green, glabrous or sparsely strigillose on veins, adaxial surface green, glabrous.

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.
Inflorescences

axillary, 1–2 cm.

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

sepals and petals white;

nectary blue to black.

sepals, petals, and nectary pale to deep blue.
Capsules

7–12 mm wide, not lobed;

valves smooth or rugulose to weakly ridged near apex;

horns subapical, prominent, erect, often rugulose, or weakly developed to absent, intermediate ridges absent.

3–4 mm wide, lobed near apex;

valves smooth, crested.
2n

= 24.

= 24.

Ceanothus megacarpus

Ceanothus lemmonii
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
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

Some populations of Ceanothus megacarpus are polymorphic for leaf arrangement. Plants assignable to either var. insularis or var. megacarpus based on leaf arrangement may have fruits intermediate to both varieties. Putative hybrids between var. megacarpus and C. cuneatus were reported by H. McMinn (1944), but their variable leaf arrangement (alternate and opposite on the same plant) may also represent intermediates between var. insularis and var. megacarpus.

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

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.)
Key
1. Leaves mostly alternate; capsule valves rugulose to weakly ridged near apex; horns prominent.
var. megacarpus
1. Leaves mostly opposite; fruit valves smooth; horns weakly developed or absent.
var. insularis
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 97. FNA vol. 12, p. 94.
Parent taxa Rhamnaceae > Ceanothus > subg. Cerastes 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. impressus, C. incanus, C. integerrimus, C. jepsonii, C. lemmonii, C. leucodermis, C. maritimus, C. martini, C. masonii, 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. 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. megacarpus var. insularis, C. megacarpus var. megacarpus
Synonyms C. macrocarpus
Name authority Nuttall: N. Amer. Sylv. 2: 46. (1846) Parry: Proc. Davenport Acad. Nat. Sci. 5: 192. (1889) — (as lemmoni)
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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