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Plant Profile

Napa Ceanothus (Ceanothus purpureus)

Photo Credit: Jorg and Mimi Fleige

Global Rank: G2 - Imperiled
Legal Status: N/A
Family: Rhamnaceae
State: CA
Nature Serve ID: 129449
Lifeform: Shrub
Date Inducted in National Collection:

Description:

Ceanothus purpureus, with the common name Hollyleaf ceanothus, is a species of shrub in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. It is spreading or erect in form, approaching 2 meters in maximum height. The woody parts are gray to reddish brown in color. The evergreen leaves are oppositely arranged and up to about 2.5 centimeters long. They are round to oval, wavy, and edged with spiny teeth, resembling the leaf of holly. The inflorescence is a small cluster of blue or purple flowers which blooms from February to May. The fruit is a horned capsule about half a centimeter long. [CNPS: Calscape]

Where is Napa Ceanothus (Ceanothus purpureus) located in the wild?

Habitat:

The Ceanothus purpureus plant grows in woodland and chaparral habitat.

Distribution:

Ceanothus purpureus is endemic to northern California, where it is known only from the Inner North Coast Ranges north of the Bay Area, mainly in Sonoma and Napa Counties. The largest remaining population of this shrub occurs on Mt. George near Napa, where it is protected in a botanical preserve. [CNPS: Calscape]

States & Provinces:

Napa Ceanothus can be found in California

Which CPC Partners conserve Napa Ceanothus (Ceanothus purpureus)?

Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

Not Sponsored

Conservation Actions

Assigned 06/13/17

CPC's Plant Sponsorship Program provides long term stewardship of rare plants in our National Collection. We are so grateful for all our donors who have made the Plant Sponsorship Program so successful. We are in the process of acknowledging all our wonderful plant sponsorship donors on our website. This is a work in progress and will be updated regularly.

Conservation Actions

Center for Plant Conservation

10/11/2021

Garret Noel of San Francisco State University completed his Master's thesis on the topic of "Implications of seed ecology for the conservation of a fire-adapted shrub Ceanothus purpureus" in 2002.

09/01/2020

Based on an September 2020 extract of the California Plant Rescue Database, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden holds 1 accessions of Ceanothus purpureus in orthodox seed collection. There are as many as 50 seeds of this species in their collection - although some may have been used for curation testing or sent to back up.

08/05/2020

Based on an August 2020 extract of the California Plant Rescue Database, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden has collected 1 seed accessions of Ceanothus purpureus from 1 plant occurrences listed in the California Natural Diversity Database. These collections together emcompass 10 maternal plants