Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ceanothus, chiefly of western North America, having showy clusters of usually blue or whitish flowers.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A genus of rhamnaceous shrubs, natives of North America, and especially of California.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of the
genus Ceanothus ofNorth American buckthorns .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Lovely purple/blue ceanothus like that flowering in the El Cajon hills, outside San Diego, California
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Shrublands: Bigpod ceanothus series, Black sage series, California sagebrush series, California sagebrush - black sage series, Chamise series, Coast prickly-pear series, Mixed sage series, Scrub oak series, White sage series.
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At middle elevations, a chaparral community occurs beneath the trees, composed of shrubs such as desert ceanothus, alderleaf mountain mahogany, and catclaw mimosa.
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There are smaller areas of Purple sage series, Bigpod ceanothus series, and Mixed scrub oak series.
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At middle elevations, dense thickets of shrubs such as desert ceanothus, alderleaf mountain mahogany, and catclaw mimosa form chaparral communities.
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Manzanita, scrub oak, chamise, laurel sumac, ceanothus, and buckwheat are types of chaparral, which thrives in Southern California's Mediterranean climate of mild winters with moderate precipitation and hot, dry summers.
Chris McGowan: A Clockwork Apocalypse: The Southern California Wildfire 2009
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Shrublands: Cupleaf ceanothus - fremontia - oak series.
Hardpan Terraces 2009
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Chaparral (dominated by red shank, ceanothus, and sage) on southern California mountains, with Mt. Palomar in background, Cleveland National Forest.
California Coastal Range Open Woodland-Shrub-Coniferous Forest - Meadow Province (Bailey) 2009
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Jeffrey pine and endemic oak and ceanothus species have evolved to grow in the potentially toxic and nutrient-poor serpentine soils.
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Other common species are Christmasberry, California scrub oak, mountain mahogany, and many species of ceanothus.
California Coastal Range Open Woodland-Shrub-Coniferous Forest - Meadow Province (Bailey) 2009
knitandpurl commented on the word ceanothus
"Blues and purples and mauves. Lavender and ceanothus. The drench of suburbia."
London Orbital by Iain Sinclair, p 136 of the Penguin paperback edition
January 29, 2012