Ceanothus cordulatus

Mountain whitethorn

Family: Rhamnaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Mountain whitethorn is a California native shrub found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, high Cascade Range, northern Sierra Nevada Forests, Sierra Nevada, Transverse Ranges, San Jacinto Mountains, Modoc Plateau, and eastern desert mountains including the Panamint Range in open conifer forests and mountain slopes at elevations of 365 to 3,355 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces white flowers in small raceme- or panicle-like clusters generally 1 to 4 centimeters long. Growing as an open shrub less than 1.5 meters tall with rigid, thorn-like pale gray to gray-green twigs that spread widely, it forms a distinctive branching structure. Its alternate evergreen leaves are ovate to elliptic, 9 to 25 millimeters long, with three prominent veins from the base, dull green on the upper surface and paler underneath. The compact shrub has small scale-like stipules and leaves with entire margins, creating a fine-textured appearance in mountain habitats.

Habitat: Ridges, slopes, open conifer forests

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 365-3355 m

Bioregions: KR, n NCoR, CaRH, n SNF, SNH, TR, SnJt, MP, DMtns (Panamint Range)

California counties: Kern, El Dorado, San Bernardino, Placer, Los Angeles, Fresno, Tulare, Riverside, Lassen, Mariposa, Siskiyou, Calaveras, Butte, Plumas, Mendocino, Tuolumne, Inyo, Alpine, Madera, Trinity, Nevada, Ventura, Sierra, Humboldt, Mono, Shasta, Lake, Amador, Glenn, Modoc, Tehama, Colusa, Yuba, Del Norte

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.