Ceanothus oliganthus

Hairy ceanothus

Family: Rhamnaceae · Type: tree · Native

Hairy ceanothus is a California native tree found in coastal and southern California in chaparral and woodland habitats. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces blue to purple-blue flowers in compact raceme-like clusters 1 to 5 centimeters long. Growing as an open, erect tree up to 3.5 meters tall with flexible twigs, it has a distinctive branching structure. Its alternate, evergreen leaves are ovate to elliptic, 11 to 30 millimeters long, dark green on top, paler underneath, with 20 to 70 tiny gland-like teeth along the margins. The fruit is sticky, 4 to 7 millimeters wide, with a slightly ridged or bulged surface.

California counties: San Diego, Ventura, Orange, Riverside, Los Angeles, Solano, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Kern, San Mateo, San Luis Obispo, San Bernardino, Nevada, Placer, Humboldt, Marin, Tulare, Madera, San Benito, Napa, Yolo, Alameda, Contra Costa

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