Flora of North America species comparison

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Ceanothus prostratus

mahala mat, prostrate ceanothus, squawcarpet
Habit Shrubs, 0.1–0.3 m, matlike to moundlike.
Stems

prostrate, spreading, or ascending, rooting at distal nodes;

branchlets reddish brown, ± flexible, puberulent, glabrescent.
Leaves

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.
Inflorescences

axillary, 0.9–2 cm.
Flowers

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

6–9 mm wide, lobed;

valves smooth to rugulose, horns subapical, prominent, erect or spreading, rugose or not, intermediate ridges present.
2n

= 24.

Ceanothus prostratus
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; NV; OR; WA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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.)
Parent taxa 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. 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. pumilus, C. purpureus, C. roderickii, C. sanguineus, C. sonomensis, C. spinosus, C. thyrsiflorus, C. tomentosus, C. velutinus, C. verrucosus
Subordinate taxa
C. prostratus var. occidentalis, C. prostratus var. prostratus
Key
1. Leaf blades flat, margins not wavy, teeth usually 3–5(–7); capsule horns erect.
var. prostratus
1. Leaf blades slightly folded lengthwise adaxially, margins ± wavy, teeth 5–9; capsule horns spreading.
var. occidentalis
Name authority Bentham: Pl. Hartw., 302. (1849)
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 104. Treatment authors: Clifford L. Schmidt†, Dieter H. Wilken.
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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