Ceanothus incanus

Coast whitethorn

Family: Rhamnaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Coast whitethorn is a California native shrub found in the northwestern coast, central coast, and San Francisco Bay Areas in chaparral and mixed-evergreen forest at elevations below 900 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces white flowers in panicle-like clusters 3 to 7 centimeters long. Growing to 4 meters tall with ascending to erect stems and rigid, pale gray to gray-green twigs, it has a distinctly open structure. Its alternate evergreen leaves are widely ovate, 20 to 50 millimeters long, dull green on top, gray-green underneath, with three prominent ribs from the base and entire margins. The fruit is sticky and 4 to 6 millimeters wide, developing a coarse, wrinkled texture when dry.

Habitat: Flats, slopes, chaparral, mixed-evergreen forest

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: < 900 m

Bioregions: NW, CCo, SnFrB.

California counties: Humboldt, Mendocino, Santa Cruz, Alameda, Napa, Lake, Plumas, Sonoma, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Monterey, Marin, San Mateo, Siskiyou

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