• GENERAL DISTRIBUTION
• ECOSYSTEMS
• STATES
• BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS
• KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS
• SAF COVER TYPES
• SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES
• HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:

ECOSYSTEMS [26]:

STATES:

BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS [5]:

KUCHLER [59] PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:

SAF COVER TYPES [22]:

SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES [117]:

HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES:

Desert ceanothus is listed as a dominant or indicator species in the following publications:

Arizona chaparral: plant associations and ecology [12]
New Mexico vegetation: past, present, and future [18]
Vegetation of the San Bernadino Mountains [74]
Classification of pinyon-juniper sites on national forests in the southwest [77]
The vascular plant communities of southern California [127]

California chaparral: Desert ceanothus occurs in several types of California chaparral communities. Some plants that are common to many types of California chaparral include chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum), manzanita (Arctostaphylos spp.), ceanothus (Ceanothus spp.), silktassel (Garrya spp.), oak (Quercus spp.), mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus spp.), sumac (Rhus spp.), California buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum), sumac (Rhus spp.), and chaparral yucca (Yucca whipplei) [32,37,82,95]. Herbaceous vegetation is rare, but some annuals that may occur in early seral communities are species of the genera Phacelia, Emmenanthe and Antirrhinum as well as several opportunistic annuals of the genera Cryptantha, Camissonia, Lotus and Filago [82]. Desert ceanothus shares dominance in desert chaparral communities with mountain mahogany, flannelbush (Fremontodendron californicum), bigberry manzanita (A. glauca), and interior live oak (Q. wislizenii) [74]. Chamise or mixed chaparral is dominated by chamise, with desert ceanothus a common secondary species. Additionally, desert ceanothus may be found in communities dominated by Nuttall's scrub oak (Q. dumosa), redshank (Adenostoma sparsifolium), Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia), antelope bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata), Stansbury cliffrose (Purshia mexicana var. stansburiana), or toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia). Early seral communities (10-60 years old) are sometimes characterized by a relatively high cover of ceanothus species, including desert ceanothus [117]. Descriptions of several types of chaparral communities of which desert ceanothus is a part (northern mixed chaparral, semi-desert chaparral, desert chaparral) are available [37,39,64,95,117].

Arizona chaparral: Desert ceanothus is found in all Arizona chaparral communities described by Carmichael and others [12], and is always in association with other species [11]. Arizona chaparral has sparser cover than its California counterpart, and it intergrades with desert scrub or grassland below and ponderosa pine forest or pinyon-juniper woodland above [54]. Shrub live oak (Q. turbinella) is the most common component of Arizona chaparral [54,92]. Other common constituents of Arizona chaparral are manzanita, mountain mahogany, silktassel, sumac, hollyleaf buckthorn (Rhamnus crocea), and cliffrose [57]. Grasses and forbs are usually sparse, but more common than in California chaparral communities.

Mexico chaparral: In Mexico chaparral communities (which may also occur in southern New Mexico and Texas), desert ceanothus is associated mostly with evergreen shrubs of the same genera as those in Arizona and California, including shrub oaks, silktassel, mountain mahogany, sumac, ceanothus, and manzanita and some endemics such as madrone (Arbutus spp.), and sage (Salvia spp.) [54,92]. In the mountain ranges and desert scrub regions of Trans-Pecos, Texas, desert ceanothus is found with sandpaper oak (Q. pungens) mountain mahogany, Spanish bayonet (Yucca faxoniana), smooth-leaf sotol (Dasylirion leiophyllum), ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens), catclaw mimosa (Mimosa aculeaticarpa var. biuncifera), lechuguilla (Agave lechuguilla) and sacahuista (Nolina microcarpa) [87,125].

Pinyon-Juniper: In California pinyon-juniper woodlands, desert ceanothus can be found with singleleaf pinyon (Pinus monophylla), California and western juniper (J. californica and J. occidentalis), big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus spp.), bitterbrush, and flannelbush [75,135]. In pinyon-juniper and oak woodlands of the southwest, desert ceanothus is found with Colorado pinyon (Pinus edulis), singleleaf pinyon, Apache pine (P. engelmannii), Chihuahua pine (Pinus leiophylla var. chihuahuana), alligator juniper (J. deppeana), oneseed juniper (J. monosperma), Arizona white oak (Q. arizonica), Gambel oak (Q. gambelii), shrub live oak, Arizona cypress (Cupressus arizonica), cliffrose, manzanita, mountain mahogany, sumac, Wright silktassel (G. wrightii), prickly-pear (Opuntia spp.), agave (Agave parryi), creosote bush (Larrea tridentata), Wright buckwheat (Eriogonum wrightii), broom snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae), and several grasses including blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), and pinyon ricegrass (Piptochaetium fimbriatum) [3,18,28,43,77,83,121].

In the desert plains galleta-grama (Pleuraphis -Bouteloua) grasslands of the southwest, desert ceanothus may be found along ravines with other chaparral species [141]. Desert ceanothus may also be found in trace amounts in the Arizona walnut (Juglans majors), Fremont cottonwood-green ash (Populus fremontii-Fraxinus pennsylvanica) and Arizona sycamore (Platanus wrightii) riparian community types in southern Arizona and New Mexico [124]. In the transition zone between the Mojave and Great Basin deserts, desert ceanothus grows in blackbrush (Coleogyne ramosissima) communities with big sagebrush, California buckwheat, and desert needlegrass (Achnatherum speciosum) [4,66].  In Great Basin sage-scrub communities it is found with big sagebrush, bitterbrush, and rubber rabbitbrush (C. nauseosus) [135].

Ceanothus greggii var. vestitus is described as occurring in montane chaparral, desert chaparral [32,75], sagebrush scrub, and Joshua tree and pinyon-juniper woodlands, in California, Utah and Arizona [84]. Ceanothus greggii var. perplexans is found in montane and desert chaparral [32], pinyon-juniper woodlands and ponderosa pine forests in southern California [84]. Franklin's ceanothus (Ceanothus greggii var. franklinii) is found in pinyon-juniper, blackbrush, and serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.) communities in Utah [16,136].

Related categories for SPECIES: Ceanothus greggii | Desert Ceanothus