Flowers are pale blue or purplish, 5-merous, in loose panicles up to 6 in. long. Most leaves are single-veined, but some larger leaves have three veins arising from the base. Seaview Park, Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park, Laguna Niguel, Orange County, CA. 5-29-11. © Joan Avise.

Greenbark Ceanothus

Ceanothus spinosus

A tree-like shrub 6 to 18 ft. tall, with smooth green bark, but rough on trunk near the base; flexible upward curving branches; branch ends (branchlets) short, spiny, and stiff.  It is fairly common in chaparral, Santa Ana Mountains, and occasional on Niguel Hill, southern San Joaquin Hills (Roberts). Stipules drop early. Blooms Feb-May. 

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Fruits consist of 3 rounded apical segments without horns. Seaview Park, Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park, Laguna Niguel, Orange County, CA. 5-29-11. © Joan Avise.

Seaview Park, Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park, Laguna Niguel, Orange County, CA. 5-29-11. © Joan Avise.

Cultivated at Thomas E. Riley Wilderness Park, Coto de Caza, Orange County, CA. 5-15-10. © Joan Avise.

Cultivated at Thomas E. Riley Wilderness Park, Coto de Caza, Orange County, CA. 5-15-10. © Joan Avise.

Cultivated at Thomas E. Riley Wilderness Park, Coto de Caza, Orange County, CA. 5-15-10. © Joan Avise.

Leaves are alternate, evergreen, smooth-margined with notched apex, bright green and hairless above, lighter below, sometimes with stiff hairs on underside midrib. Cultivated at Thomas E. Riley Wilderness Park, Coto de Caza, Orange County, CA. 5-15-10. © Joan Avise.

Fruits. Left: Ceanothus leucodermis; Right: Ceanothus spinosus. Los Pinos Trail, Upper Trabuco, etc. 4-30-15. © Ron Vanderhoff.

Fruits. Left: Ceanothus leucodermis; Right: Ceanothus spinosus. Los Pinos Trail, Upper Trabuco, etc. 4-30-15. © Ron Vanderhoff.