Ceanothus bolensis S. Boyd & J. Keeley is a new species in the subgenus Cerastes from northwestern Baja California, Mexico. It is well represented at elevations above 1000 m on Cerro Bola, a basaltic peak approximately 35 km south of the U.S./Mexican border. It is characterized by small, obovate to oblanceolate, cupped, essentially glabrous leaves with sparsely toothed margins, pale blue flowers, and globose fruits lacking horns. Principal components analysis on morphological traits shows it to be distinct from other members of Cerastes which are distributed away from the coast in southern California and Baja California, Mexico. These phenetic comparisons also suggest that Ceanothus otayensis should not be subsumed under C. crassifolius, as treated in the Jepson Manual, but rather should be retained at specific rank as well.
