Interesting Facts
Common Names
Common Names in English:
Little-Leaf Whitethorn, Littleleaf Buckbrush, Sandflat Ceanothus
Description
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
Habitat
Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 105 meters (0 to 344 feet).[2]
Biology
Reproduction
Duration: Perennial
Taxonomy
- 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:
microphyllus
- Michx.
- Botanical name: - Ceanothus microphyllus Michx.
- Specific epithet:
microphyllus
- Michx.
- Genus:
Ceanothus
(
- Family:
Rhamnaceae
(
- Order:
Rosales
(
- Superorder:
Rhamnanae
(
- Subclass:
Rosidae
(
- Class:
Spermatopsida
(
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Notes
Name
Status: Accepted Name
.
Last scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000
Similar Species
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:
C. americanus (Ceanothus) · C. arboreus (Catalina Ceanothus) · C. arboreus 'Trewithen Blue' (Feltleaf Ceanothus) · C. arcuatus (Arching Ceanothus) · C. bakeri (Baker's Ceanothus) · C. coeruleus (Azure Ceanothus) · C. confusus (Rincon Ridge Ceanothus) · C. connivens (Trailing Buckbrush) · C. cordulatus (Mountain Whitethorn) · C. crassifolius (Hoary-Leaf Whitethorn) · C. cuneatus (Buckbrush) · C. cuneatus var. cuneatus (Buckbrush) · C. cuneatus var. fascicularis (Buck Brush Ceanothus) · C. cuneatus var. ramulosus (Buckbrush Ceanothus) · C. cuneatus var. rigidus (Monterey Ceanothus) · C. cyaneus (San Diego Buckbrush) · C. dentatus (Cropleaf Ceanothus) · C. divergens (Calistoga Ceanothus) · C. divergens 'Burtonensis' (Crop-Leaf Ceanothus) · C. diversifolius (Pine Mat Ceanothus) · C. fendleri (Ceanothus) · C. ferrisae (Coyote Ceanothus) · C. ferrisiae (Coyote Ceanothus) · C. flexilis (Flexible Ceanothus) · C. foliosus (Wavy-Leaf Whitethorn) · C. foliosus var. foliosus (Wavyleaf Ceanothus) · C. foliosus var. medius (Wavyleaf Buckbrush) · C. foliosus var. vineatus (Vine Hill Ceanothus) · C. fresnensis (Fresno Ceanothus) · C. gloriosus (Holly Ceanothus) · C. gloriosus var. exaltatus (Glory Brush Ceanothus) · C. gloriosus var. exaltatus 'Emily Brown' (Emily Brown Ceanothus) · C. gloriosus var. gloriosus (Point Reyes Ceanothus) · C. gloriosus var. porrectus (Mount Vision Ceanothus) · C. gloriosus 'Anchor Bay' (Holly Ceanothus) · C. greggii (Ceanothus) · C. greggii greggii (Ceanothus) · C. greggii greggii var. greggii (Mohave Desert Ceanothus) · C. greggii var. greggii (Desert Ceanothus) · C. greggii var. lanuginosa (Mohave Desert Ceanothus) · C. greggii var. perplexans (Cupleaf Ceanothus) · C. greggii var. vestitus (Mohave Ceanothus) · C. griseus (California Lilac) · C. griseus var. horizontalis 'Carmel Creeper' (California Lilac) · C. griseus var. horizontalis 'Diamond Heights' (Ceanothus) · C. griseus var. horizontalis 'Santa Ana' (California Lilac) · C. griseus var. horizontalis 'Yankee Point' (Ceanothus) · C. hearstiorum (Hearst Ranch Buckbrush) · C. herbaceus (Jersey Tea) · C. impressus (Santa Barbara Ceanothus) · C. impressus var. impressus (Santa Barbara Ceanothus) · C. impressus var. nipomensis (Santa Barbara Ceanothus) · C. impressus 'Puget Blue' (Santa Barbara Ceanothus) · C. incanus (Coast Whitethorn) · C. infestus (Junco) · C. integerrimus (Deer Brush) · C. integerrimus var. parvifolius (Deerbrush Ceanothus) · C. jepsonii (Jepson Ceanothus) · C. jepsonii var. albiflorus (Ceanothus) · C. jepsonii var. jepsonii (Jepson Ceanothus) · C. lemmoni (Lemmon's Ceanothus) · C. lemmonii (Ceanothus) · C. leucodermis (Chaparral Whitethorn) · C. lobbianus (Lobbian Ceanothus) · C. lorenzenii (Lorenzen's Ceanothus) · C. maritimus (Maritime Ceanothus) · C. maritimus 'Point Sierra' (Maratime Ceanothus) · C. martini (Martin Ceanothus) · C. martinii (Ceanothus) · C. masonii (Bolinas Ceanothus) · C. megacarpus (Big-Pod Ceanothus) · C. megacarpus var. insularis (Island Ceanothus) · C. megacarpus var. megacarpus (Bigpod Ceanothus) · C. mendocinensis (Mendocino Ceanothus) · C. microphyllus (Little-Leaf Whitethorn) · C. oliganthus (Hairy Ceanothus) · C. ophiochilus (Vail Lake Ceanothus) · C. otayensis (Otay Ceanothus) · C. palmeri (Palmer Ceanothus) · C. papillosus (Ceanothus) · C. papillosus roweanus (Wartleaf Ceanothus) · C. papillosus var. papillosus (Wartleaf Ceanothus) · C. papillosus var. roweanus (California Lilac) · C. papillosus var. roweanus 'Julia Phelps' (Ceanothus) · C. parryi (Ceanothus) · C. parvifolius (Ceanothus) · C. pinetorum (Ceanothus) · C. prostratus (Mahala Mats Ceanothus) · C. pumilus (Dwarf Ceanothus) · C. purpureus (Hollyleaf Ceanothus) · C. rigidus 'Snowball' (Monterey Ceanothus) · C. rodericki (Buckthorn) · C. roderickii (Pine Hill Ceanothus) · C. roweanus (Wartleaf Ceanothus) · C. rugosus (Rugose Ceanothus) · C. sanguineus (Oregon-Tea) · C. serpyllifolius (Coastal Plain Buckbrush) · C. serrulatus (Cascade Lake Ceanothus) · C. sonomensis (Sonoma Ceanothus) · C. sorediatus (Jim-Brush)
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Further Reading
- A dictionary of English names of plants applied in England and among English-speaking people to cultivated and wild plants, trees, and shrubs, by William Miller; in two parts, English-Latin and Latin-English. London, J. Murray, 1884. url p. 114.
- A taxonomic study of the Nearctic spider wasps belonging to the tribe Pompilini (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) [Philadelphia? n.d.] url p. 225.
- Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. New York, New York Academy of Sciences. url p. 206, p. 45, p. 83.
- Annual report / Florida State Geological Survey. Tallahassee, Fla.: Capital Pub. Co., state printer, url p. 125, p. 206, p. 236, p. 285, p. 317, p. 332.
- Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 27 1900 New York: Torrey Botanical Club, 1870-1996 url p. 430.
- Chronological history of plants: man's record of his own existence illustrated through their names, uses, and companionship. Boston, Little, Brown & company, 1879. url .
- Class book of botany. Being outlines of the structure, physiology and classification of plants. With a flora of all parts of the United States and Canada. By Alphonso Wood. .. New York, A.S. Barnes & Burr;1860. url p. 291.
- Class-book of botany: being outlines of the structure, physiology, and classification of plants: with a flora of the United States and Canada / by Alphonso Wood. New York: A.S. Barnes & Co.; 1874, c1869. url p. 291.
- Cyclopedia of American horticulture, comprising suggestions for cultivation of horticultural plants, descriptions of the species of fruits, vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants sold in the United by L. H. Bailey. .. assisted by William Miller. .. and many expert cultivators and botanists. London: The Macmillan company, 1909. url p. 265.
- Economic botany of Alabama. University, Ala., 1913-1928. url p. 261, p. 332.
- Entomological news. [Philadelphia]American Entomological Society, 1925- url p. 136.
- Erigenia: journal of the Illinois Native Plant Society. Carbondale, Ill.: The Society, 1982- url p. 70.
- Field, forest and garden botany: a simple introduction to the common plants of the United States east of the 100th meridian, both wild and cultivated / by Asa Gray. New York: American Book, c1895. url p. 106.
- Field, forest, and garden botany, a simple introduction to the common plants of the United States, east of the Mississippi, both wild and cultivated. By Asa Gray. New York: Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & co., [c1868] url p. 87.
- Field, forest, and garden botany; a simple introduction to the common plants of the United States east of the 100th meridian, both wild and cultivated, by Asa Gray. .. Cincinnati [etc.]American Book Company[1895] url p. 106.
- Flora of the southeastern United States; being descriptions of the seed-plants, ferns and fern-allies growing naturally in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and in Oklahom by John Kunkel Small. New York, The author, 1913. url p. 751, p. 751.
- Flora of the southern United States, containing an abridged description of the flowering plants and ferns of Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida; arranged according to the natural system by A.W. Chapman. New York, American Book Company[1897] url p. 74.
- Florida wild flowers; an introduction to the flora of the Florida peninsula, by Mary Francis Baker, photographs by the author. New York, The Macmillan company, 1926. url p. 135, p. 136.
- Gray's School and field book of botany: consisting of "Lessons in botany" and "Field, forest, and garden botany" bound in one volume. New York: American Book Company, [between 1895 and 1900]. url p. 106.
- Gray's school and field book of botany: consisting of "Lessons in botany" and "Field, forest, and garden botany": bound in one volume. New York: American Book Co., c1895. url p. 106.
- Journal of the New York Botanical Garden. 25 1924 Lancaster, Pa.: Published for the Garden by the New Era Printing Co., 1900- url p. 325, p. 90.
- Native woody plants of the United States, their erosion-control and wildlife values. Washington, U. S. Govt. print. off., 1938. url p. 89.
- Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences. San Francisco, The Academy. url p. 180.
- Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences. Davenport, Ia., Academy of Natural Sciences [etc.] url p. 163.
- Resources of southern Alabama: a statistical guide for investors and settlers, with an exposition of some of the principles of economic geography / by Roland M. Harper. University, Ala.: Geological Survey of Alabama, [1920]. url p. 54.
- Science. New York, N.Y.: [s.n.]1880- url p. 487.
- Small, J. K. Flora of the southeastern United States;being descriptions of the seed-plants, ferns and fern-allies growing naturally in North Carolina, South Carolin, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and the Indian territory and in Oklahoma and Texas east of the one-hundredth meridian /by John Kunkel Small. .. 1903 New York: The author, 1903. url p. 751.
- Smithsonian miscellaneous collections. 15 1878 Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1862-1968. url p. 165.
- Synoptical flora of North America. New York, American Book Company, 1878-1895/97 [v.2, pt. 1, 1878] url p. 410.
- The American botanist and florist: including lessons in the structure, life, and growth of plants: together with a simple analytical flora, descriptive of the native and cultivated plants growing in the Atlantic division of the Americ by Alphonso Wood. New York: A. S. Barnes, 1877, c1870. url p. 77.
- The Entomologist. London: Edward Newman, 1840-[1869] url p. 70.
- The Gardeners' chronicle: a weekly illustrated journal of horticulture and allied subjects. London: [Gardeners Chronicle], 1874-1955. url p. 687.
- The Journal of horticulture, cottage gardener and country gentlemen. London: George W. Johnson and Robert Hogg, 1861-1877. url p. 22.
- The standard cyclopedia of horticulture; a discussion, for the amateur, and the professional and commercial grower, of the kinds, characteristics and methods of cultivation of the species of plants grown in the regions of the United States a Illustrated with colored plates, four thousand engravings in the text, and ninety-six full-page cuts. New York, Macmillan, 1919 [c1914] url p. 697.
- The vegetation of south Florida south of 27 30 north, exclusive of the Florida keys, by John W. Harshberger. Philadelphia, Wagner Free Institute of Science, 1914. url p. 100.
- Transactions of the Wagner Free Institute of Science of Philadelphia. 7 1910 Philadelphia: Wagner Free Institute of Science of Philadelphia, 1887-1927. url p. 100.
- Transactions of the. .. annual meetings of the Kansas Academy of Science. Topeka, Kan.: Kansas Pub. House, 1883-1901. url p. 98.
- Chen Yi-ling and Chou Pan-kai. 1982. Rhamnaceae. In: Chen Yi-ling, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 48(1): i-vi, 1-169.
Notes
Contributors
- Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
- Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed November 21, 2007. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 6 providers.
- Ruggiero M., Gordon D., Bailly N., Kirk P., Nicolson D. (2011). The Catalogue of Life Taxonomic Classification, Edition 2, Part A. In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist (Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., Ouvrard D., eds). DVD; Species 2000: Reading, UK.
Data Sources
Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 21, 2007:
- Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden
- USDA PLANTS, USDA PLANTS Database
- University of Alabama Biodiversity and Systematics, Herbarium
Identifiers
- Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2652079
- Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-28491
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13743656
- Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:716882-1
- Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 28491
- International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 716882-1
- Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: PDRHA040X0
- U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: CEMI4
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 29246
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]
- Mean = 39.210 meters (128.642 feet), Standard Deviation = 29.410 based on 159 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
