Ceanothus parryi

Parry ceanothus

Family: Rhamnaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Parry ceanothus is a California native shrub found in northern coastal and northern coastal range bioregions in open sites and mixed-evergreen or conifer forest at elevations of 60 to 1,200 meters. Flowering from April to May, this plant produces deep blue flowers in raceme or panicle-like clusters 6 to 14 centimeters long. Growing up to 5 meters tall with ascending to erect flexible stems that are slightly angled and green or red-brown, it has a distinctive open habit. Its alternate evergreen leaves are 12 to 40 millimeters long, oblong to narrowly elliptic, dark green on top and paler underneath with a slightly rolled margin. The shrub has scale-like stipules and leaves that are generally entire, with a characteristic cobwebby to loose-tomentose underside when young.

Habitat: Open sites, mixed-evergreen or conifer forest

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: 60-1200 m

Bioregions: NCo, NCoR

California counties: Lake, Napa, Sonoma, Humboldt, Butte, Mendocino, Fresno, Colusa, Santa Barbara, Marin, Yolo

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