Ceanothus spinosus

Ceanothus spinosus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Rhamnaceae
Genus:	Ceanothus
Species:	C. spinosus
Binomial name
	Ceanothus spinosus; Nutt.
	Natural range of Ceanothus spinosus in California chaparral and woodlands habitats.

Ceanothus spinosus, with the common names greenbark and redheart, is a species of Ceanothus.^[1] It is native to southern California and northern Baja California, where it grows in the scrub and chaparral of the coastal mountain ranges.

Range and habitat

Growth pattern

Ceanothus spinosus is a large treelike shrub approaching 6 metres (20 ft) in maximum height.^[1]

Leaves and stems

Leaves have a single main vein rising from the leaf base.^[1] The thick, firm evergreen leaves are hairless, oval, and up to an inch wide, with smooth margins.^[1]

The bark is smooth and olive green, giving rise to its common name.^[1] The stem is a rough-barked trunk near the base.^{[citation needed]} Branches are stiff and sharp, or spiny, at the tips.^[1] "Ceanothus" means "spiny plant" in Greek, and the species name, "spinosus", means that it is even more spiny.^[1]

The stipules (small leaf-like structures at the base of the leaf stem) are thin and fall off early.^[1]

Inflorescence and fruit

The shrub blooms in inflorescences up to 15 centimeters long filled with clusters of white to pale blue flowers.^[1] The fruit is a smooth, round capsule about half a centimeter wide containing three lobes.

Fruits do not have horns, as do some other members of the genus.^[1]

It blooms from February to May.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k FLowering Plants of the Santa Monica Mountains, Nancy Dale, 2nd Ed. p. 167

External links

[FPSMM-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k FLowering Plants of the Santa Monica Mountains, Nancy Dale, 2nd Ed. p. 167

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