Ceanothus megacarpus

Big pod ceanothus

Family: Rhamnaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Big pod ceanothus is a California native shrub found in coastal and southern California regions in chaparral and coastal sage scrub habitats. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces white flowers with dark disk centers in small umbel-like clusters about 1 to 2 centimeters wide. Growing as an erect, open shrub reaching up to 4 meters tall, it has ascending branches with brown to gray-brown twigs. Its evergreen leaves are elliptic to widely oblanceolate, 10 to 25 millimeters long, dull green on top and gray-green underneath with short strigose hairs, particularly along the veins. The distinctive fruit is 7 to 12 millimeters wide, often with three ridges and sometimes featuring small horns.

California counties: Orange, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside, San Diego, San Benito

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