''Ceanothus lemmonii'' is a species of
shrub
A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...
in the family
Rhamnaceae
The Rhamnaceae are a large Family (biology), family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs, and some vines, commonly called the buckthorn family. Rhamnaceae is included in the order Rosales.
The family contains about 55 genera and 950 specie ...
known by the common name Lemmon's ceanothus. It is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, where it grows on the wooded slopes of the
Inner North Coast Ranges and the
Sierra Nevada foothills to the west and east, respectively, of the
Sacramento Valley
The Sacramento Valley is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies north of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the Sacramento River. It encompasses all or parts of ten Northern California ...
.
Description
This is a spreading shrub approaching a meter in height and slightly more in width. The woody parts are gray when aged and new twigs are green, hairy, and sometimes glandular. The evergreen leaves are alternately arranged. Each is oval in shape and dull green, densely hairy on the underside and more thinly hairy on the upper surface, and the edge is lined with tiny glandular teeth. The abundant
inflorescence
In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...
s are clusters of pale to bright blue or purple flowers. The fruit is a smooth capsule a few millimeters long.
References
External links
Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfilePhoto gallery
lemmonii
Endemic flora of California
Plants described in 1889
{{Rhamnaceae-stub