Ceanothus spinosus

Greenbark ceanothus

Family: Rhamnaceae · Type: tree · Native

Greenbark ceanothus is a California native tree found in southern coastal and western transverse ranges including San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles counties, growing on slopes and in chaparral at elevations below 1,200 meters. Flowering from January to May, this plant produces blue to pale blue flowers in raceme or panicle-like clusters 4 to 21 centimeters long. Growing up to 6 meters tall with flexible green twigs that can be thorn-like, it forms an open, occasionally tree-like structure with ascending to erect branches. Its alternate leaves are elliptic to oblong, 10 to 37 millimeters long, with a dark shiny green upper surface and a paler underside, featuring a single prominent rib from the base and an acute to obtuse tip. The fruit is compact, 4 to 7 millimeters wide, with distinctive three-ridged characteristics in its upper portion.

Habitat: Slopes, canyons, chaparral

Bloom period: Jan-May

Elevation: < 1200 m

Bioregions: s CCo, s SCoRO, SCo, WTR, PR

California counties: San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Orange, Ventura, Riverside, Alameda, San Bernardino, Solano, San Benito, Lake

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