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.
Common Name: CALIFORNIA-LILAC Habit: Shrub, tree-like or not, generally erect or mat- to mound-like. Stem: branches generally arranged like leaves; twigs thorn-like or not, generally not angled. Leaf: alternate or opposite, some clustered on short-shoots or not, deciduous or evergreen; stipules scale-like, thin, deciduous, or knob-like, corky, thick, base persistent; blade flat or wavy, tip generally acute to obtuse, margin thick (i.e., thicker than adjacent blade) or not, rolled under or not, wavy or not, entire or gland- or sharp-toothed, glands generally dark, teeth pale, alternate blade 1--3-ribbed from base, generally thin, opposite blade 1-ribbed from base, thick, firm. Inflorescence: umbel-, raceme-, or panicle-like aggregations of few-flowered clusters, axillary or terminal; pedicels white to deep blue or pink. Flower: conspicuous, generally < 5 mm; hypanthium surrounding fleshy disk below ovary base, in fruit thick, not splitting; sepals generally 5, lance-deltate, incurved, colored like petals, persistent; petals generally 5, blade hood-like, white to deep blue or pink; stamens generally 5, opposite petals; ovary 1/2-inferior, 3-lobed, chambers 3, each 1-ovuled, styles 3. Fruit: capsule, +- spheric, generally +- 3-lobed, generally smooth, 3-ridged or not, horned or not. Seed: 3, 2--5 mm. Etymology: (Greek: thorny pl) Note: Hybrids possibly common (named hybrids not recognized here), discussed in Fross & Wilken; possible hybrid forms do not key easily. eFlora Treatment Author: Dylan O. Burge & Dieter H. Wilken Reference: Fross & Wilken 2006 Ceanothus. Timber Press; Burge et al. 2015 Syst Bot 40:950--961.
Habit: Plant mat-like to erect, occasionally tree-like, +- open, < 6 m. Stem: spreading to erect; twigs flexible, not thorn-like, angled distally, ridged, green. Leaf: alternate, evergreen; stipules scale-like; petiole 3--9 mm; blade 10--39 mm, 5--20 mm wide, oblong-ovate, ovate, or widely elliptic, +- firm, adaxially dark green, glabrous, abaxially paler, glabrous to puberulent between veins or not, veins +- raised, sparsely puberulent, tip obtuse to rounded, margin +- gland-toothed. Inflorescence: generally raceme- or panicle-like, 1.5--7 cm. Flower: light to deep blue (white). Fruit: 2.5--4 mm wide, sticky; horns 0.
Ceanothus thyrsiflorus Eschsch. var. griseus Trel.
NATIVE Stem: twigs +- puberulent. Leaf: blade ovate to widely elliptic, margin rolled under. Ecology: Bluffs, slopes, canyons, chaparral, coastal scrub, closed-cone-pine forest; Elevation: < 600 m. Bioregional Distribution: NCo, NCoRO, CCo, SnFrB. Flowering Time: Feb--Jun Note: If recognized taxonomically, +- prostrate plants in CCo (Yankee Point, Monterey Co.), previously described as Ceanothus griseus var. horizontalis McMinn, would need a new name under Ceanothus thyrsiflorus; study needed. Synonyms: Ceanothus griseus (Trel.) McMinn Jepson eFlora Author: Dylan O. Burge & Dieter H. Wilken Reference: Fross & Wilken 2006 Ceanothus. Timber Press; Burge et al. 2015 Syst Bot 40:950--961. Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Ceanothus thyrsiflorus Next taxon: Ceanothus thyrsiflorus var. obispoensis
Citation for this treatment: Dylan O. Burge & Dieter H. Wilken 2020, Ceanothus thyrsiflorus var. griseus, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, Revision 8, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=80855, accessed on December 02, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on December 02, 2024.
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