Scientific Family
Rhamnaceae
Plant type
Shrubs
Riparian
No
Plant Description
Origin
Native
Similar species
Ceanothus fendleri
Small round shrub with numerous short, stiff side branches. Branches are stiff but not spiny. Fine textured with gray leaves. White flowers.
Stems erect, gray to reddish-gray with white hairs, not armed; numerous opposite short twigs; leaves opposite, simple, evergreen, oval to obovate, margins entire or often toothed; flowers small, white to light green in small loose clusters in leaf axils.
Height
1 to 6 feet
Width
3 feet
Habitat
Habitat description
Grows on dry, rocky slopes, foothills, canyons, gullies and in erosion channels.
Plant Community
Pinyon Juniper Woodlands
Interior Chaparral
Grasslands
Low elevation
3000
High elevation
7000
Leaves
Leaf color
Grayish-green
Leaf type
Simple
Leaf shape
Round or oval
Leaf margin
Smooth
Leaf hairs
Bottom of leaves
Spines
No
Leaf Drop
Evergreen
Thick and leathery, opposite, short stemmed, narrowly ovate to elliptic or obovate, up to 1 inch long and to 1/2 inch wide, margins smooth or toothed, dark green and concave above, paler and distinctly pinnate-veined beneath.
Flowers
Flower color
White to light green
Flower shape
Inconspicuous
Tubular
No
First bloom month
March
Last bloom month
April
Flower heads of small umbel-like clusters. Flowers white to light green, petals white and slightly longer than the sepals.
Flower clusters
Rounded
Fruit
Fruit color
Reddish-green to brown
Fruit type
Capsule
Capsule rounded, slightly 3-lobed, 3/16 inch in diameter, may have horn-like or warty projections.