PLANT: Shrubs, armed, to 2 m tall. STEMS: low, spreading to erect, pubescent, greenbrown to gray; thorns 1-5 cm long, sometimes absent in young plants. LEAVES: evergreen, alternate; petioles 2-4 mm long; blades oblanceoate to oblong, palmately veined, 0.8-3 cm long, 0.4 –1.9 cm wide, palmately 3-veined, with margins entire, dark green above, light green to whitish below, pubescent to glabrous. INFLORESCENCES: terminal or axillary, 3-10 flowers per cluster. FLOWERS: white to light green. FRUITS: 3-5 mm wide. NOTES: Open coniferous forest: Cochise, Coconino, Gila, Graham, Greenlee, Mohave, Navajo, Pima, Santa Cruz, Yavapai cos.; 1600-2800 m (5300-9200 ft); Apr-Sep; SD s to WY, UT, CO, NM and TX ; Chih., Mex. Plants with broadly elliptic to obovate, pubescent leaf blades from s AZ have been recognized as C. fendleri var. venosus Trelease. REFERENDCES: Kyle Christie, Michael Currie, Laura Smith Davis, Mar-Elise Hill, Suzanne Neal, and Tina Ayers, 2006 Vascular Plants of Arizona: Rhamnaceae. CANOTIA 2(1): 23-46.