''Ceanothus parvifolius'' 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 littleleaf ceanothus or littleleaf whitethorn. This

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

plant is characterized by its blue flowers and flat topped habit, and 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 the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

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 mountain flats and coniferous forest.

Description

This plant is a spreading

, growing to a maximum height of just over a meter, forming a wide bush. The

twig A twig is a thin, often short, branch of a tree or Bush (plant), bush. The buds on the twig are an important diagnostic characteristic, as are the abscission scars where the leaves have fallen away. The color, texture, and patterning of the t ...

s are thin, green and quite glabrous. The leaves are alternately arranged and

, with scale-like stipules. The leaves are 8 to 21 mm long, 3 to 12 mm wide, mainly oval in

shape A shape is a graphics, graphical representation of an object's form or its external boundary, outline, or external Surface (mathematics), surface. It is distinct from other object properties, such as color, Surface texture, texture, or material ...

and smooth-edged, sometimes with a few tiny

teeth A tooth (: teeth) is a hard, calcified structure found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates and used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores and omnivores, also use teeth to help with capturing or wounding prey, tear ...

near the tip. Both sides of the leaves are generally glabrous, lacking

hairs Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and fin ...

. The

raceme A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are ...

panicle In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a p ...

-like

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 4 to 9 cm long of flowers in various shades of blue. The fruit is a 3-lobed smooth capsule a few millimeters long. Flowering is from May to July. Ceanothus parvifolius 79918632

Characteristics

The twigs of this species are flexible, and are not thornlike as compared with '' Ceanothus cordulatus''. There may be 1 to 3 ribs at the base of each leaf, and the upper surface of the leaf is shiny. This species comes close to '' Ceanothus integerrimus'', but differs in its dwarf-like, spreading and often flat-topped

habit A habit (or wont, as a humorous and formal term) is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously. A 1903 paper in the '' American Journal of Psychology'' defined a "habit, from the standpoint of psychology, ...

, its blue flowers as opposed to white, and its much smaller leaves. Putative hybrids with ''C. cordulatus'' have been reported.

Distribution and habitat

This species is distributed on the western slope of the

of California from Plumas County south to

Tulare County Tulare County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 473,117. The county seat is Visalia. The county is named for Tulare Lake, once the largest freshwater lake west of the Great Lake ...

. It occurs primarily on open sites, slopes and flats and within coniferous forests from an elevation of 1255 to 2220 meters.

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment — ''Ceanothus parvifolius''USDA Plants Profile''Ceanothus parvifolius'' — U.C. Photo gallery
parvifolius Endemic flora of California Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Taxa named by William Trelease {{Rhamnaceae-stub