Ceanothus flexilis (Flexible Ceanothus)

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Flexible Ceanothus

Description

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Family Rhamnaceae

Deciduous or evergreen , often thorny trees , shrubs , woody climbers , or lianas, rarely herbs. Leaves simple , petiolate , alternate or opposite, pinnately veined or 3-5-veined, entire to serrate, sometimes much reduced; stipules small, caducous or persistent , sometimes transformed into spines. Flowers yellowish to greenish, rarely brightly colored , small, bisexual or unisexual , rarely polygamous, (4 or) 5-merous, hypogynous to epigynous , in mostly axillary , sessile or pedunculate cymes, or reduced to few in fascicles. Calyx tube patelliform or hemispherical to tubular , sometimes absent, at rim with calyx, corolla, and stamens; sepals 4 or 5, valvate in bud, triangular, erect or ± recurved during anthesis , adaxially often distinctly keeled , alternate with petals. Petals 4 or 5, rarely absent, usually smaller than sepals, concave or hooded , rarely nearly flat, often shortly clawed. Stamens 4 or 5, antepetalous and often ± enclosed by petals; filaments thin, adnate to bases of petals; anthers minute, versatile or not, 2(or 4) -celled, dehiscing by longitudinal slits, usually introrse . Disk intrastaminal , nectariferous , thin to ± fleshy , entire or lobed , glabrous or rarely pubescent , free from ovary or tightly surrounding it, or adnate to calyx tube. Ovary superior to inferior, (1 or) 2-4-loculed, with 1(or 2) ovules per locule; ovules anatropous , basal and erect; styles simple or ± deeply 3-lobed or 3-cleft. Fruit either an indehiscent, rarely explosively dehiscent , sometimes winged , schizocarpic capsule, or a ± fleshy drupe with 1-4 indehiscent, rarely dehiscent, pyrenes (stones ) . Seeds with thin, oily albumen, sometimes exalbuminous ; embryo large, oily, straight or rarely bent.

About 50 genera and more than 900 species: almost cosmopolitan , mainly in subtropical to tropical areas; 13 genera and 137 species (82 endemic, one introduced ) in China.

Former classifications usually placed Rhamnaceae in the Rhamnales, together with Vitaceae and Leeaceae (Suessenguth in Engler & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam., ed. 2, 20d. 1953), or together with Elaeagnaceae (Thorne, Bot. Rev. 58: 225-348. 1992) . Orders such as Celastrales, Urticales, and Euphorbiales have often been considered as closely related groups. Recent analyses of DNA sequences strongly supported including the family in the Rosales, beside the closest relatives Barbeyaceae and Dirachmaceae (see Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II, Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 141: 399-436. 2003) . Suessenguth (loc. cit. ) grouped the family into five tribes , mainly characterized by fruit characters. Richardson et al. (Kew Bull . 55: 311-340. 2000; Amer. J. Bot. 87: 1309-1324. 2000) revised this tribal classification on the basis of a phylogenetic analysis using rbcL and trnL-F sequences of the plastid genome. Now 11 tribes are recognized, of which four are represented in the Flora area.

The bark , leaves, and fruit of several species of Rhamnus have been used as laxatives , notably R. cathartica and R. frangula. Diverse Old World species of Rhamnus provide yellow and green dyes as well as drugs. Timber of Alphitonia, Colubrina, Hovenia, and Ziziphus species is used for construction, fine furniture, carving, lathework, and musical instruments. Many Ziziphus species yield edible fruit; among them, Z. jujuba (Chinese jujube) and Z. mauritiana (Indian jujube) are cultivated on a commercial scale. Hovenia dulcis is also grown for its edible, fleshy inflorescence stalks . Species of Hovenia, Paliurus, and Rhamnus are cultivated as ornamentals .[1]

Physical Description

Habit: Shrub • Growth Form: Colonizing • Shape and Orientation: Prostrate

Flowers: Bloom Period: Early Summer • Flower Color: Blue • Flower Conspicuous: Yes

Seeds: Seed Spread Rate: None • Seedling Vigor: Low • Fruit/Seed Abundance: Low • Fruit/Seed Color: Brown • Fruit/Seed Conspicuous: No • Cold Stratification Required: No

Foliage: Foliage Color: Dark Green • Foliage Porosity Summer: Dense • Foliage Porosity Winter: Dense • Foliage Texture: Coarse • Fall Conspicuous: Yes • Leaf Retention: Yes

Size/Age/Growth

Active Growth Period: Spring and Summer • Growth Rate: Moderate • Mature Height (feet): 1.0 • Maximum Height at 20 Years (feet): 1 • Vegetative Spread Rate: Moderate • Lifespan: Lifespan

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial • Coppice Potential: No • Progagated by Bulbs: No • Propagated by Bare Root: Yes • Propagated by Container: Yes • Propagated by Corms: No • Propagated by Cuttings: Yes • Propagated by Seed: No • Propagated by Sod: No • Propagated by Sprigs: No • Propagated by Tubers: No • Fruit/Seed Period Begin: Spring • Fruit/Seed Period End: Summer • Fruit/Seed Persistence: No

Growth

Soil: Adapted to Medium Textured: Adapted to Medium Textured Soils • Adapted to Coarse Textured Soils: Yes • Anaerobic Tolerance: None • Salinity Tolerance: None • CaCO3 Tolerance: None • Minimum pH: 5.9 • Maximum pH: 7.9 • Fertility Requirement: Low

Sunlight: Shade Tolerance: Tolerant

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High • Minimum Precipitation: 24 • Maximum Precipitation: 35 • Moisture Use: Low

Temperature: Minimum Temperature (F): -23 • Minimum Frost Free Days: 130

Taxonomy

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Domain: Eukaryota () - Whittaker & Margulis,1978 - eukaryotes
- Kingdom: Plantae () - Haeckel, 1866 - Plants
  - Subkingdom: Viridaeplantae () - Cavalier-Smith, 1981
    - Phylum: Tracheophyta () - Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998 - Vascular Plants
      - Subphylum: Euphyllophytina ()
        Infraphylum: Radiatopses () - Kenrick & Crane, 1997
        Class: Spermatopsida () - Brongniart, 1843
        Subclass: Rosidae () - Takhtajan, 1967
        Superorder: Rhamnanae () - Takhtajan Ex Reveal, 1992
        Order: Rosales () - Perleb, 1826
        Family: Rhamnaceae () - A.L. de Jussieu, 1789, nom. cons. - buckthorn, nerpruns
        Genus: Ceanothus () - C. Linnaeus, 1753
        Specific epithet: flexilis - Greene ex McMinn
        Botanical name: - Ceanothus flexilis Greene ex McMinn

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Ceanothus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 161 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

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Notes

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Contributors

Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.

Identifiers

Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3874838
Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-28469
GRIN Nomen Number: 418971
Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 28469
U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: CEFL4
Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 29003

Footnotes

Yilin Chen & Carsten Schirarend "Rhamnaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 12 Page 115,355. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

Ceanothus flexilis

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Description

Family Rhamnaceae

Physical Description

Size/Age/Growth

Biology

Reproduction

Growth

Taxonomy

Notes

Similar Species

Members of the genus Ceanothus

More Info

Further Reading

Notes

Contributors

Identifiers

Footnotes