Ceanothus greggii  Gray
 

by Tsvetelina Stefanova, Native Plants of Arizona 2007
Common names:  Desert Ceanothus (1), Gregg Ceanothus, Mountain Balm, Buckbrush, Wild Lilac, Red Root (2).
Family:  Rhamnaceae (1).
Synonymy: 
Etymology:  Ceanothus comes from the Greek word keanothus, a name used for a spiny plant.  greggii – named for Josiah Gregg, 19^th century frontier trader and author (3).

Identification

Growth form:  Perennial (2), erect, < 2 m (4).  Monoecious (5).
Stem:  Gray to reddish gray with velvety white hairs, numerous opposite, short twigs, buds very small and reddish gray (5).
Leaves:  Opposite, simple, evergreen, oval to obovate, margins entire or often toothed, thick and leathery, usually cupped, gray-green above, more velvety and paler beneath, very short petiole (5).
Inflorescence/flowers: small, white or faded blue occurring in small loose clusters in leaf axils (5), raceme-like, < 2 cm (4).
Fruit:  A round capsule, may have horn like or warty projections (5)Similar species:  Ceanothus fendleri and C. intergerrimus are both common in this area.  They are easily distinguished from C. greggii by their alternate, palmately veined leaves with prominent veins vs, opposite pinnately veined leaves in Ceanothus greggii (6).

Ecology

Life history:  Perennial.
Native/introduced:  Native.
Photosynthetic pathway:  C3.
Phenology:  Flowers in Spring (5).
Distribution:  Mountain slopes, 4000-6500' elevation (2) just bellow the Mogollon Rim and in the desert mountain ranges in Mohave, Coconino, Yavapai, Gila, Maricopa, Pima, Graham, Greenlee, Santa Cruz, Cochise Counties (1). 

Uses
Ceanothus greggii is an astringent herb and contains the tannins paracoumaric acid, and integerreine (6).

References

1.  USDA, NRCS. 2007. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov. 12 October 2007). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

2. Gausig, D.V., Naturesongs, 1999. http://www.naturesongs.com/vvplants/ceanothus.html. 

3. http://davesgarden.com/guides/botanary/search.php?search_text=albus&Search=Search+Botanary.  Dave's Garden.

4. Sawyer, Jr., J. O., 1993,  “Buckthorn Family” http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?6586,6589,6612.  University of California.

5. 2007. http://www.cnr.vt.edu/DENDRO/dendrology/syllabus2/factsheet.cfm?ID=488.  Department of Forestry, College of Natural Resources, Virginia Tech.

6. Hogan, Phyllis.  Huisinga, K., Kampe, K.  2005.  An Anotated Catalog of the Native and Naturalized Flora of Arizona.  Revised Edition. Northern Arizona University. (p. 40-41)