| Ceanothus cuneatus | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Rosales |
| Family: | Rhamnaceae |
| Genus: | Ceanothus |
| Species: | C. cuneatus |
| Binomial name | |
| Ceanothus cuneatus | |
Ceanothus cuneatus is a species of flowering shrub known by the common names buckbrush and wedgeleaf ceanothus.
This Ceanothus is native to Oregon, California, and northern Baja California, where it can be found in a number of habitats, especially chaparral.
Ceanothus cuneatus is a spreading bush, rounded to sprawling, reaching up to three meters in height. The evergreen leaves are stiff and somewhat tough and may be slightly toothed along the edges. The bush flowers abundantly in short, thick-stalked racemes bearing rounded bunches of tiny flowers, each about half a centimeter wide.
The fragrant flowers are white, sometimes tinted strongly with blue or lavender. The fruit is a round capsule with horns. It is about half a centimeter wide and contains three shiny dark seeds which are dispersed when the capsule explodes and propels them some distance. Harvester ants have been known to catch the seeds, which can lie dormant for a long time since fire is required for germination. This plant may be variable in appearance because it hybridizes easily with similar species.
While this shrub has a wide distribution in its range, certain varieties of the species are limited to small areas. The Monterey ceanothus (var. rigida), for example, is found only between the southern edge of the San Francisco Bay Area and San Luis Obispo County.
It is a larval host to the California hairstreak, California tortoiseshell, ceanothus silkmoth, echo blue, hedgerow hairstreak, Pacuvius duskywing, western green hairstreak, and white-streaked saturnia moth. [1]
Ceanothus is a genus of about 50–60 species of nitrogen-fixing shrubs and small trees in the buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae). Common names for members of this genus are buckbrush, California lilac, soap bush, or just ceanothus. "Ceonothus" comes from a Greek word meaning "spiny plant", Ancient Greek: κεάνωθος (keanōthos), which was applied by Theophrastus to an Old World plant believed to be Cirsium arvense.
Ceanothus hearstiorum is a species of flowering shrub known by the common names Hearst Ranch buckbrush and Hearst's ceanothus. This Ceanothus is endemic to California, where it grows wild only on the hilly coastline of San Luis Obispo County.
Ceanothus megacarpus is a species of flowering shrub known by the common name bigpod ceanothus. This Ceanothus is endemic to California, where its distribution extends along the Central Coast and includes the Channel Islands.
Ceanothus griseus is a species of flowering shrub known by the common names Carmel ceanothus and Carmel creeper. 'Carmel' refers to the Carmel-by-the-Sea region in California.
Ceanothus crassifolius is a species of flowering shrub known by the common name hoaryleaf ceanothus. This Ceanothus is found throughout the coastal mountain ranges of the southern half of California, and its range extends into Baja California.
Ceanothus cyaneus is a species of flowering shrub known by the common names San Diego buckbrush and Lakeside ceanothus. This Ceanothus is found in the Peninsular Ranges and Transverse Ranges of San Diego County, California, and its range probably extends just into Baja California.
Ceanothus diversifolius is a species of flowering shrub known by the common name pinemat. This Ceanothus is endemic to California, where it can be found in the oak and pine forests of several mountain ranges.
Ceanothus impressus is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae known by the common name Santa Barbara ceanothus. It is endemic to the Central Coast of California, where it is known from San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. It occurs in chaparral habitat.
Ceanothus spinosus, with the common names greenbark and redheart, is a species of Ceanothus. It is native to southern California and northern Baja California, where it grows in the scrub and chaparral of the coastal mountain ranges.
Ceanothus confusus is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae known by the common name Rincon Ridge ceanothus. It is endemic to northern California where it grows in the coastal mountains north of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its habitats include coniferous forest, woodland, and chaparral. This is a low, spreading shrub often forming a short mat up to about 1.2 meters wide. The stem is gray-brown with new twigs having a reddish color and fuzzy texture. The evergreen leaves are oppositely arranged. Each is up to 2 centimeters long and oval in shape with 3 to 5 large teeth. The upper surface is shiny green and the underside is paler and feltlike in texture with hairs along the veins. The inflorescence is a small cluster of blue or purple flowers. The fruit is a horned capsule about half a centimeter wide.
Ceanothus cordulatus is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae known by the common names mountain whitethorn and whitethorn ceanothus. It is native to California and adjacent sections of Oregon, Nevada, and Baja California, where it grows on mountain ridges and other forested areas. This is a spreading shrub growing usually wider than tall and up to about 1.5 meters. The stems are gray, with the twigs yellow-green in color and fuzzy in texture when new. The evergreen leaves are alternately arranged and up to 3 centimeters long. Each is oval in shape with three ribs and generally not toothed. The leaves may be hairy or not. The inflorescence is panicle-shaped, up to about 4 centimeters long. The flowers are white to off-white with five sepals and five petals. The fruit is a rough, ridged capsule up to half a centimeter long. It has three valves inside, each containing a seed. It is a nitrogen-fixing plant, that is uniquely abundant in old-growth forest conditions when compared to similar types of nitrogen-fixing plants. In addition, Ceanothus cordulatus is known to be an important source of nitrogen patches for significantly longer times than other similar post-disturbance successional shrubs, following disturbance events such as forest fires.
Ceanothus gloriosus is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae known by the common name Point Reyes ceanothus. It is endemic to California, where it is known from the coastline of the San Francisco Bay Area and areas north and south. It grows on seaside bluffs and the slopes of the coastal mountains. This shrub grows flat and spreading to erect, approaching two meters in maximum size. The evergreen leaves are oppositely arranged and up to 5 centimeters long, rounded to oval in shape. The edges are toothed, the teeth sometimes spine-tipped. The inflorescence is a small cluster of bright blue to purple flowers. The fruit is a horned capsule about 4 millimeters wide.
Ceanothus incanus is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae known by the common name coast whitethorn. It is endemic to California, where it is known from the San Francisco Bay Area through the North Coast Ranges into the Klamath Mountains.
Ceanothus leucodermis, with the common names chaparral whitethorn or chaparral white thorn, is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae. This Ceanothus is an importance browse for several types of ungulate, such as the mule deer and bighorn sheep, who prefer the new growth and shoots to the older, spiny parts.
Ceanothus maritimus, with the common name maritime ceanothus, is a species of shrub in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. It is endemic to San Luis Obispo County, California, where it is known from only a few occurrences in the vicinity of Hearst Ranch. It shares the same range as the similarly rare Ceanothus hearstiorum, growing on the coastal bluffs.
Ceanothus masonii is a species of shrub in the buckthorn family, Rhamnaceae, known by the common name Mason's ceanothus. It is endemic to Marin County, California, where it is known only from an area near Bolinas on the Point Reyes National Seashore. It grows in the coastal chaparral on the windblown bluffs..
Ceanothus parvifolius is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae known by the common name littleleaf ceanothus. It is endemic to the High Sierra Nevada of California, where it grows in moist areas in the forest.
Ceanothus purpureus, with the common name hollyleaf ceanothus, is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae. It is endemic to northern California, where it is known only from the Inner North Coast Ranges north of the Bay Area, mainly in Sonoma and Napa Counties. The largest remaining population of this shrub occurs on Mt. George near Napa, where it is protected in a botanical preserve.
Ceanothus roderickii is a rare species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae known by the common name Pine Hill ceanothus. It is endemic to western El Dorado County, California, where it grows in the chaparral and woodlands of the Sierra Nevada foothills, such as the Pine Hill Ecological Reserve. It is named after 20th century California flora explorer, botanist, and arboretum director Wayne Roderick.
Ceanothus verrucosus is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae known by the common names wart-stem ceanothus, barranca brush, and white coast ceanothus. It is native to Baja California and San Diego County, where it grows in coastal chaparral and scrub. Most of the valuable coastal land that hosts this plant in the San Diego area has been claimed for development, but several populations still remain scattered around the region, such as one protected at Torrey Pines.
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