A New Family Debuts

On a South-facing slope on Radio Hill I found a patch of Mahala Mat blooming.  It's Ceanothus prostratus, a member of the Buckthorn family, Rhamnaceae, which includes lots of familiar plants.  In the Quincy area we have Deer Brush and Buck Brush, which are both Ceanothus, and Cascara Buckthorn, which is Rhamnus purshiana.  The first two have clusters of small white flowers which remind people of Lilacs, and these are sometimes called Lilacs, but there's no close relation.  The garden-variety Lilacs are in the Olive family, Oleaceae.