BUCKTHORN FAMILY 135 



BUCKTHORN" FAMILY (Rhamnaceae) 



Low shrubs and woody vines. Flowers tiny, white. Sepals, 

 petals, and stamens 5 each. 



Red-Shank. Redroot. Nsiw Jersey Tea (Genus 



Ceanothus) 



Our plants of this genus show a low, bushy growth, 

 and bloom profusely in many-flowered clusters of tiny 

 flowers, whose sepals and flower-stalks, like the petals, 

 are white. The common species in the peninsula are 

 C. microphyllus and C. intermedHiLs; dry pinelands are 

 their preferred habitat, and late winter and spring their 

 chief blossoming season, but their flowers are often seen 

 in autumn, too, when the three-lobed fruit is splitting into 

 three one-seeded nutlets. The little petals are peculiar 

 in form, and are like miniature dippers. Flowers of this 

 genus are remarkable in yielding a fragrant and slightly 

 soapy lather when rubbed in water. 



Several species of this genus, which is found only in 

 North America, are cultivated as ornamental plants in 

 England, among them the New Jersey tea, C. americanus, 

 noted for its use during the American Revolution when 

 the dried leaves were a substitute for tea. The same 

 species was also used to dye wool a cinnamon color. 



The names red-shank and redroot refer to the thick 

 reddish root that is characteristic of many species. 



The jujubes (species of Zizyphus) belong to this family, 

 as does the buckthorn, or Indian cherry, Rhamnus caro- 

 liniana, of the southern states, a shrub or tree with minute 

 greenish flowers, oblong leaves, three to five inches long, 

 and many axillary, short-stalked umbels of small edible 

 fruit that change from red to black in ripening. 



Ceanothus intennedius. Flowers white, tiny, in many short 

 panicles terminating the branches. Shrub 1-3 ft. tall. Leaves 

 alternate, broadest near base, finely toothed, 1 in. long or 

 less. Pinelands. Blooming chiefly from late winter to sum- 

 mer. Fla. to Ga. and Ala. 



