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Ceanothus dentatus; photograph (c) Alexander Wentworth, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Alexander Wentworth, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2025-12-20

Ceanothus dentatus Torr. & A.Gray

Sandscrub ceanothus; Crop-leaf ceanothus

Rhamnaceae · California

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Ceanothus dentatus, photograph (c) Ryan Donnelly, some rights reserved (CC BY)Ceanothus dentatus, photograph (c) Ryan Donnelly, some rights reserved (CC BY)Ceanothus dentatus, photograph (c) Ryan Donnelly, some rights reserved (CC BY)Ceanothus dentatus, photograph (c) Ryan Donnelly, some rights reserved (CC BY)Ceanothus dentatus, photograph (c) Ryan Donnelly, some rights reserved (CC BY)Ceanothus dentatus, photograph (c) Ryan Donnelly, some rights reserved (CC BY) 129 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
5.5°C
Record low -0.1 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
22°C
Aug and Sep at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
578mm
7 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
15–51DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet winters: the rain comes December to March, read as a winter growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Ceanothus dentatus is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae known by the common name sandscrub ceanothus. It is endemic to California, where it is known only from the Central Coast and its Coast Ranges. It grows in coastal hills, bluffs, and canyons.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Ceanothus dentatus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Ceanothus

Ceanothus is a genus of about 50–60 species of nitrogen-fixing shrubs and small trees in the buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae). Common names for members of this genus are buckbrush, California lilac, soap bush, or just ceanothus. The genus is native to North America, ranging from Canada and the United States south through Mexico to Panama, with the center of diversity in the California floristic province of the western United States and Mexico, where around ~42 species are endemic out of the roughly ~58 species in the genus. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Ceanothus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (408 mm of 575 mm) falls in December to March, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 10.5 °C against a yearly mean of 13.2 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: June to September.

Rain

575 mm in the median year at the habitat, 408 mm of it December to March. Wettest month January at 113 mm, driest month July at 1 mm; 3 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 464 mm to 979 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 578 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 575 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 51 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 13, the highest 90th-percentile month 53).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 5.5 °C, the absolute minimum -0.1 °C, 1 frost night in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 27.2 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 6.2 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 3.8 °C to 7.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 22.2 °C in September (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 5.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -24 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Ceanothus dentatus through the yearWarmest months August and September, mean daily high 22 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 6.2 °C; 575 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-5°0°5°10°15°20°25°30°frost27.2° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-0.1° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 15–51RH 60–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 37 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C14 / 12–1515 / 13–1616 / 13–1717 / 14–1918 / 15–2220 / 17–2521 / 18–2822 / 19–2822 / 19–2620 / 18–2217 / 15–1814 / 12–15
Night °C6 / 4–87 / 4–88 / 6–98 / 7–910 / 9–1111 / 11–1313 / 12–1513 / 12–1513 / 12–1411 / 10–129 / 7–107 / 4–8
Rain mm113 / 92–188109 / 84–18190 / 74–13741 / 35–5714 / 11–274 / 3–612 / 1–26 / 5–829 / 22–5070 / 55–12696 / 74–194
DLI17 / 15–1922 / 20–2431 / 30–3441 / 40–4347 / 46–5051 / 50–5350 / 50–5246 / 44–4838 / 37–3928 / 26–3019 / 17–2215 / 13–17
RH %61 / 55–6262 / 57–6363 / 57–6562 / 54–6462 / 52–6562 / 50–6562 / 48–6663 / 48–6762 / 49–6660 / 51–6461 / 53–6260 / 54–61
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 37 grid cells holding the 229 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1067:1165 (36.625, -121.725). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -0.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 5.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 27.2 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 37 distinct grid cells holding 229 of the 229 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1067:1165 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 36.50_-121.875, lapse-corrected -24 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 95 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeCalifornia · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker36.63, -121.776 · in the densest population, 249 records (97% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 256 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 229 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 27 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1 km away. 27 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 256 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Ceanothus dentatus, photograph 1did not loadCeanothus dentatus, photograph 2did not loadCeanothus dentatus, photograph 3did not loadCeanothus dentatus, photograph 4did not loadCeanothus dentatus, photograph 5did not loadCeanothus dentatus, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Ryan Donnelly, some rights reserved (CC BY) (6).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Arctostaphylos hookeri Arctostaphylos hookeri Hooker's manzanita Photo: CC0, author not stated Ceanothus × lobbianus Rhamnaceae Arctostaphylos montereyensis Arctostaphylos montereyensis Monterey manzanita Photo: CC BY, Mike HeineJaumea carnosa Jaumea carnosa Marsh jaumea Photo: CC0, author not statedArctostaphylos pajaroensis Arctostaphylos pajaroensis Pajaro manzanita Photo: CC BY, Ryan DonnellyArctostaphylos tomentosa Arctostaphylos tomentosa Woollyleaf manzanita Photo: CC BY, Cricket Raspet

Other Ceanothus 38 in the reference

Ceanothus americanus Ceanothus americanus New Jersey tea Photo: CC BY, WF_MICeanothus arboreus Ceanothus arboreus Felt-leaf ceanothus Photo: CC BY, Matt BergerCeanothus caeruleus Ceanothus caeruleus Rhamnaceae Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez MarcialCeanothus cordulatus Ceanothus cordulatus Mountain whitethorn Photo: CC BY-SA, Nancy OverholtzCeanothus crassifolius Ceanothus crassifolius Hoary-leaf ceanothus Photo: CC0, author not statedCeanothus cuneatus Ceanothus cuneatus Buckbrush Photo: CC BY, Devon BradleyCeanothus cyaneus Ceanothus cyaneus Lakeside ceanothus Photo: CC BY, Matt BergerCeanothus divergens Ceanothus divergens Calistoga ceanothus Photo: CC BY, Peter WarnerCeanothus fendleri Ceanothus fendleri Fendler buckbrush Photo: CC BY, Matt BergerCeanothus foliosus Ceanothus foliosus Wavyleaf ceanothus Photo: CC BY, jbradburyCeanothus gloriosus Ceanothus gloriosus Point Reyes ceanothus Photo: CC BY, Peter BrastowCeanothus griseus Ceanothus griseus Rhamnaceae Photo: CC BY, Irina Mitine all 39 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Ceanothus dentatus var. dentatus; Ceanothus papillosus var. dentatus. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Rhamnaceae
Described by
Torr. & A.Gray
Native to
California
Wild records
256 in range · 27 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 5 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (5 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 36.50_-121.875, lapse-corrected -24 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Ceanothus dentatus Torr. & A.Gray (the item's: IPNI 716797-1, POWO 50662-2)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 22 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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