Plant Name
Scientific Name: Ceanothus fendleri
Synonym: Ceanothus subsericeus
Common Names: Fendler's Ceanothus, Fendler Ceanothus, Fendler's Buckbrush
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial, Semi-evergreen
Growth Habit: Shrub
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Upland, Mountain. This plant tolerates partial shade and grows in pinyon-juniper woodlands and in open pine forests.
Flower Color: White to pinkish
Flowering Season: Spring, Summer, Fall (early)
Height: Up to 6 1/2 feet (2 m) tall, but usually less
Description: The flowers are in rounded clusters along the branch tips. The individual flowers are small and have 5 white, spoon-shaped petals, 5 white, folded, triangular sepals, and 5 stamens. The flowers are followed by small, plump, triangular, red drying to brown fruit. The leaves are dull dark green above, pale grayish green and hairy below, alternate, oblanceolate to oblong in shape, and have 3 major lengthwise veins. The branches are fuzzy, grayish, and tipped with a stout, sharp spine. The plants are wide and spreading.
The very similar Desert Ceanothus (Ceanothus greggii) does not have spine-tipped branches and has leaves with only one major vein.
Special Characteristics
Edible – The red, berrylike fruits are edible.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Rosidae
Order: Rhamnales
Family: Rhamnaceae – Buckthorn family
Genus: Ceanothus L. – ceanothus
Species: Ceanothus fendleri A. Gray – Fendler's ceanothus
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