''Ceanothus fendleri'' (Fendler sceanothus, Fendler sbuckbrush, deer brier) is a species of flowering shrub native to northern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

, west

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and the northeastern

Texas panhandle The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a square-shaped area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east. It is adjacent to ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, eastern

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

, and western

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...

.USDA, NRCS. 2008
Profile
at the PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov), 30 June 2008). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA. Its typical

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

forests from in altitude.

Description

Fendler's ceanothus seldom exceeds tall. The stems and twigs are grayish green when young, reddish brown when mature, armed with spines up to long. The leaves are green and thick, and three-veined from the base. The flowers are about 2 mm across See also and white, borne in thick clusters emanating from the leaf axils, particularly on the older stems. They all open at once, so the plant is covered with bloom. This usually happens in June or July, but may be any time from April to October according to the altitude and weather. As in other ceanothuses, there are five spoon-shaped or hooded petals, each partly covering a stamen. The fruits are three-celled capsules, pink and glossy, forming an approximate rounded equilateral triangle with the stem at the center. They typically ripen in August and September. When dry these pods exhibit

explosive dehiscence Dehiscence is the splitting of a mature plant structure along a built-in line of weakness to release its contents. This is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part; structures that op ...

, throwing the seeds out forcefully. The seeds are glossy dark brown, about 2 mm across.

Animal interactions

Deer are particularly fond of browsing on Fendler's ceanothus. In a study at Beaver Creek, Arizona, it was important to

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whi ...

all year and constituted up to 6.9 percent of their summer dietUrness, P.J., D.J. Neff, and R.K. Watkins. 1975. Nutritive value of mule deer forages on ponderosa pine summer range in Arizona. USDA Forest Service Research Note RM-304. Cited by Huffman, ''Fendler Ceanothus''. and might constitute even more where other forage species are less common.Huffman, ''Fendler Ceanothus'', 20

Elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...

also eat it, as do

North American porcupine The North American porcupine (''Erethizon dorsatum''), also known as the Canadian porcupine, is a large quill-covered rodent in the New World porcupine family. It is the second largest rodent in North America, after the North American beaver ('' ...

jackrabbits Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The gen ...

, and

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animal ...

to a lesser extent. The caterpillars of '' Erynnis pacuvius'', the buckthorn duskywing, feed on this plant and other species of ''Ceanothus''.

Ethnobotany

* Some have dried the leaves as a substitute for

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...

. * The

Acoma Acoma may refer to: * ''Acoma'' (beetle), a scarab beetle genus of subfamily Melolonthinae * Acoma Pueblo, a Native American pueblo * Acoma, Nevada, a ghost town * Acoma Township, McLeod County, Minnesota, US * , more than one ship of the US Navy ...

and

Laguna Pueblo The Laguna Pueblo ( Western Keres: Kawaika ʰɑwɑjkʰɑ is a federally recognized tribe of Native American Pueblo people in west-central New Mexico, near the city of Albuquerque, in the United States. Part of the Laguna territory is includ ...

people ate the fruits. * The Navajos combined this shrub and green gentian to make a medicine applied internally or externally, for "alarm and nervousness".

References

External links

EcologyPhoto gallery
of seeds {{Taxonbar, from=Q5055713 fendleri Flora of Arizona Flora of Chihuahua (state) Flora of Coahuila Flora of New Mexico Flora of South Dakota Flora of Texas Flora of Utah Flora of Wyoming Taxa named by Asa Gray Plants used in Native American cuisine Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Flora without expected TNC conservation status