Ceanothus papillosus

Wartleaf ceanothus

Family: Rhamnaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Wartleaf ceanothus is a California native shrub found in the San Francisco Bay Area, southern Coast Ranges, western Transverse Ranges, and northwestern Peninsular Ranges in open sites, chaparral, and woodland at elevations of 90 to 1,500 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces deep blue flowers in raceme-like clusters 2 to 6 centimeters long. Growing 1 to 3.5 meters tall with ascending to erect flexible stems that range from green to gray-brown, it forms an occasionally mound-like, dense structure. Its alternate evergreen leaves are thick and oblong to narrowly elliptic, 11 to 50 millimeters long, with dark green upper surfaces covered in glandular-papillate texture and margins rolled under with 17 to 31 tiny gland-teeth. The plant's distinctive leaves are notably thick and textured, with a unique glandular surface that gives it the characteristic "wartleaf" appearance.

Habitat: Open sites, chaparral, woodland

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 90-1500 m

Bioregions: SnFrB, SCoR, WTR, nw PR

California counties: Riverside, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Mateo, San Benito, Santa Clara, Ventura, Orange, Humboldt, Alameda

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