Photo Credit
Courtesy of Stan Shebs, Wikimedia.
Blueblossom
Scientific name
Ceanothus thyrsiflorus
Also Known As
California lilac
Plant Family
Plant Group
Blueblossom is an evergreen, native to the California coastal areas, with bright green to dark green leaves and small flowers that are produced in a dense, puff-shaped clusters. Flower color varies from white, light blue, dark blue to purple. Flowers bloom in the winter or spring, and then mature into a dry, three-lobed seed capsule.
Identification Hints
Find Blueblossom in the Chaparral, redwood forest, and mixed woodland slopes and canyons along the California coastline and foothills from Del Norte County to Monterey County. It varies dramatically in form and size over its natural range, with some plants growing fairly upright to 30 feet and others growing in a mounding form to only 2-3 feet tall.
Did You Know?
Blueblossom flowers are important for bees and butterflies, and its seed pods are an important food source for birds and small mammals.
Nativar Research Project: Contribute your pollinator observations of this native plant and three of its cultivars. Are pollinators as attracted to the nativars as they are to the original native plant? Read more at the Nativar Research Project page.
