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

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:

Ceanothus velutinus var. hookeri grows on the west side of the Cascade Range from northern California to British Columbia [129]. Ceanothus velutinus var. velutinus is widespread and occurs form British Columbia through California and Nevada east of the Cascades to South Dakota and Colorado [63,129]. 

ECOSYSTEMS [98]:

STATES:

BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS [25]:

KUCHLER [151] PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:

SAF COVER TYPES [86]:

SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES [235]:

HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES:

In the intermountain ponderosa pine region, snowbrush ceanothus forms extensive shrubfields with bush chinquapin (Chrysolepis sempervirens), greenleaf manzanita (Arctostaphylos patula), menziesia (Menziesia ferruginea), Rocky Mountain maple (Acer glabrum), ninebark, and willows [105].

In lodgepole pine communities (Pinus contorta) [226,276,285], snowbrush ceanothus occurs with ponderosa pine [226,276], white fir (Abies concolor) [276], white spruce (Picea glauca), paper birch (Betula papyrifera), limber pine (Pinus flexilis), common juniper (Juniperus communis), quaking aspen, bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), Oregon-grape (Mahonia repens), rose, red raspberry (Rubus idaeus), western snowberry (Symphoricarpos occidentalis), grouse whortleberry (Vaccinium scoparium) [226], greenleaf manzanita, pinemat manzanita (Arctostaphylos nevadensis), and bitterbrush [276]

In Douglas-fir forests (Pseudotsuga menziesii) [80,124], snowbrush ceanothus occurs with lodgepole pine, grand fir (Abies grandis), western redcedar (Thuja plicata), western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) [4], vine maple (Acer circinatum) [93], ninebark [11], Oregon boxwood (Paxistima myrsinites) [4,93,124], bearberry [4,93], mountain snowberry, chokecherry, currant, big sagebrush, Rocky Mountain maple, mountain-mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus), russet buffaloberry (Shepherdia canadensis), common snowberry [65,210], willow [65,124], Oregon-grape, Wood's rose (Rosa woodsii), white spirea [65], big huckleberry (Vaccinium membranaceum), dwarf Oregon-grape (Berberis nervosa), and trailing blackberry (Rubus ursinus) [93].

In mixed conifer communities [130,145,275], snowbrush ceanothus occurs with sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana) [76,145], ponderosa pine [24,76,130,145,275], lodgepole pine [24,275], Douglas-fir [24,76,130], incense-cedar (Calocedrus decurrens), white fir [76,130,145], grand fir [24,145], western hemlock, western redcedar, California red fir (Abies magnifica), tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflorus), Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi), and California black oak (Quercus kelloggii) [145]. Understory associates include willow [24,76], Oregon boxwood [130], bitterbrush, needlegrass (Achnatherum spp.),  sedge (Carex spp.) [275], common snowberry [76], bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) [130], manzanita [76,145,275], chinquapin [76,130,145,275], bittercherry, deerbrush (Ceanothus integerrimus), mountain whitethorn (C. cordulatus) [145], mahala mat (C. prostratus) [76,145], redstem ceanothus, and pinegrass (Calamagrostis rubescens) [24].

Snowbrush ceanothus occurs in white fir-California red fir forests [5,88] with ponderosa pine [88,122], Jeffrey pine [122], bush chinquapin [88], greenleaf manzanita [88,122], mahala mat [5,122], snowberry [5], rubber rabbitbrush, and wax currant (Ribes cereum) [122]. 

Snowbrush ceanothus occurs in Jeffrey pine-white fir forests [14,34,35] with sugar pine [34], lodgepole pine [34,35], golden currant (Ribes aureum), incense-cedar [34], mahala mat, bush chinquapin, greenleaf manzanita [34,35], wax currant, and bittercherry [35].

Snowbrush ceanothus is a common or dominant component in seral shrubfields of the northern Rockies [21,208,237]. Plant associates in these communities include Scouler willow (Salix scouleriana), Rocky Mountain maple, Saskatoon serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia) [21,51,120,166,208], currant (Ribes spp.), mountain whitethorn [170], redstem ceanothus [21,51,208], Oregon boxwood [21,51,120,208], red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa), russet buffaloberry [237], white spirea, common snowberry [21,208], menziesia [21], ninebark [21,51,166,208], thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus), bittercherry [120,208], oceanspray [51,208], Pacific dogwood (Cornus nuttallii), red-osier dogwood (Cornus sericea), big huckleberry, and Utah honeysuckle (Lonicera utahensis) [208]. Snowbrush ceanothus may comprise up to 80% of the shrub volume in these communities [51].

In quaking aspen communities [16,49,50,134,285], snowbrush ceanothus occurs with chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), mountain snowberry [49,50], serviceberry, and Oregon boxwood [49,50,134].

In pinyon-juniper (Pinus spp.-Juniperus spp.) woodlands [80,147], snowbrush ceanothus occurs with serviceberry, big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), rubber rabbitbrush, green rabbitbrush (C. viscidiflorus), green ephedra (Ephedra viridis), bitterbrush, desert gooseberry (Ribes velutinum), blue elderberry (Sambucus cerulea), and mountain snowberry (Symphoricarpos oreophilus) [147].

In mountain brush communities [14,15,42,221,285], snowbrush ceanothus commonly occurs with Rocky Mountain maple [202], bigtooth maple [42], big sagebrush [15,42,221], black sagebrush (Artemisia nova) [42], bearberry [14,42],  ceanothus (Ceanothus spp.) [42], serviceberry [15,42,42,44,202,221], Stansbury cliffrose (Purshia mexicana var. stansburiana) [42], bitterbrush [15,42], snowberry [15,42,44,202,221], Oregon boxwood [15], curlleaf mountain-mahogany [42,119], true mountain-mahogany [42], ninebark [15,221], rubber rabbitbrush [202], oaks (Quercus spp.) [42,202,221], New Mexico locust (Robinia neomexicana) [42], Wood's rose [202], currant [44,202], Prunus spp. [14,15,42,44,202,221], quaking aspen [44,202], and Idaho fescue [44].

In montane chaparral communities [36,119], snowbrush ceanothus commonly occurs with manzanita [31,36,60,119],  bush chinquapin [31,36,60,119], ceanothus (Ceanothus spp.) [31,36,119], currant [44,202], curlleaf mountain-mahogany, rubber rabbitbrush [119], silktassel (Garrya spp.) [36], quaking aspen [44,202], oaks (Quercus spp.) [31,36,60], and Prunus spp. [36,60,119]. Common tree species that may be present in these communities include white fir, California red fir, sugar pine, ponderosa pine, Jeffrey pine, and incense-cedar [36]. 

Plant Community Dominance:
Classifications in which snowbrush ceanothus is identified as a plant community dominant are:

Colorado [16]
Idaho [242,243,244,245,246,247,248,249]
Nevada [162]
Oregon [130,276]
Washington [93]

Related categories for SPECIES: Ceanothus velutinus | Snowbrush Ceanothus