Ceanothus palmeri description

Ceanothus palmeri

W. Trelease, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. ser. 2, 1:109. 1888

Palmer's ceanothus

Ceanothus spinosus T. Nuttall var. palmeri (W. Trelease) W. L. Jepson

Description:

Habit: Shrubs to 3.5 m.

Stems: ascending to erect, not rooting at nodes; twigs gray-green, round, smooth, glabrous, flexible.

Leaves: usually evergreen, alternate; not clustered; stipules thin, deciduous; petioles to 8 mm; blades elliptic, oblong to oblong-ovate, 1.3--4.0 cm x 0.9--1.6 cm, bases cuneate,+/- 1-veined, juvenile blades 3-veined, margins not revolute, entire, tips rounded to notched, abaxially pale green, glabrous, sometimes +/- hairy on midribs, adaxially green, glabrous, plane.

Inflorescences: terminal or axillary, panicle-like to panicle-like, 7.5--13.0 cm.

Flowers: white.

Fruits: prominently 3-lobed, 5--7 mm broad, smooth, horns 0; valves glandular-crested.

Cytology:

Flowering: in early summer (May -June).

Habitat: dry slopes, chaparral, yellow pine forest; 1200-1800 m.

Range: Calif. (SnJt, PR,); Mexico in n. Baja California. View Distribution Map.

Other Information :

Some shrubs in the foothills of the central Sierra Nevada [c SNF (Amador, Eldorado cos.)] of California, at 100-450 m have more flexible leaves, +/- smaller fruits. These shrubs resemble C. palmeri more than C. integerrimus which occur at higher elevations in this region. Also, some shrubs in the inner, dry coastal mountains of Santa Barbara Co., Figueroa Mtn of the Los Padres National Forest [SCoRO] and in the Sespe Condor Sanctuary (Topatopa Peak) of Ventura Co. which resemble C. palmeri have been referred C. integerrimus due to thinner leaf blades and better development of the 3-veined from the base characteristic. [H.E. McMinn 1942]

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