Common Name: BUCKTHORN FAMILY Habit: [Perennial herb] shrub, tree, generally erect, often thorny. Leaf: simple, generally alternate, often clustered on short-shoots; stipules generally present, occasionally modified into spines; generally petioled; blade pinnate-veined or 1--5-ribbed from base. Inflorescence: cyme, panicle, umbel, or flowers 1 or clustered in axils or on short-shoots. Flower: generally bisexual, radial; hypanthium subtending, surrounding, or partly fused to ovary; sepals 4--5; petals 0, 4--5, generally clawed; stamens 0, 4--5, alternate sepals, attached to hypanthium top, each generally fitting into a petal concavity; disk (0 or) between stamens, ovary, thin to fleshy, entire or lobed, free from ovary, adherent or fused to hypanthium; ovary superior or +- inferior, chambers [1]2--4, 1--2-ovuled, style 1, stigma entire or 2--3-lobed. Fruit: capsule, drupe. Genera In Family: 50--52 genera, 950 species: especially tropics, subtropics some cultivated (Ceanothus; Frangula; Rhamnus; Ziziphus). eFlora Treatment Author: John O. Sawyer, Jr., except as noted Scientific Editor: Steve Boyd, Thomas J. Rosatti.
Habit: Shrub. Stem: branches dense, opposite, rigid, green; twigs spreading, jointed at base, thorn-tipped, glabrous to puberulent. Leaf: opposite, clustered in axils or not, early-deciduous; stipules +- triangular, black, shiny; blade entire, 1--3-ribbed from base. Inflorescence: small axillary clusters; pedicel generally white to green-white. Flower: hypanthium bowl-shaped, generally white to green-white; sepals 5, triangular, persistent; petals 5, spoon-shaped, white; stamens 5; disk fused to hypanthium, 5-angled, fleshy, generally white to green-white; ovary superior, chambers 3, 1-ovuled, stigma 3-lobed. Fruit: capsule, spheric, explosively dehiscent. Etymology: (Adolphe T. Brongniart, student of Rhamnaceae, 1801--1876) eFlora Treatment Author: John O. Sawyer, Jr.
Adolphia californica S. Watson
NATIVE Habit: Plant < 1.5 m. Stem: twigs stout. Leaf: petiole 2--4 mm; blade, 3--12 mm, elliptic-oblong to obovate, base wedge-shaped, tip obtuse to acute. Flower: hypanthium 3 mm wide; petals 2 mm. Fruit: +- 5 mm. Ecology: Coastal scrub, chaparral; Elevation: < 400 m. Bioregional Distribution: SCo, PR; Distribution Outside California: Mexico. Flowering Time: Dec--Apr Unabridged Note: Tortosa (1993 Darwiniana 32:185--189) treated Adolphia californica as a synonym of Adolphia infesta of Arizona, northern Mexico, Texas, but did note regional differences. See Shreve & Wiggins 1964 Vegetation and flora of the Sonoran Desert for a comparison. Jepson eFlora Author: John O. Sawyer, Jr. Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Listed on CNPS Rare Plant Inventory Previous taxon: Adolphia Next taxon: Ceanothus
Botanical illustration including Adolphia californica
Citation for this treatment: John O. Sawyer, Jr. 2012, Adolphia californica, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=11984, accessed on April 25, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 25, 2024.
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