Bailey sc Bailey: Woody Plants of National Parks 



169 



9. Jersey Tea Ceanothus {Ceanothus amencanus L.). — Erect shrub 

 to 3 feet high; leaves egg-shaped to oblong-egg-shaped, 1 to 3 inches long, 

 pointed at tips, finely and irregularly toothed, dull green above, finely hairy or 

 smooth below; flowers white, borne in large spreading clusters at the ends of 

 the new branches of the season; fruits about "^/^ inch across. 



Occurrenc&. — ISLE rovale. 



10. Desert Deerbrush {Ceanothus mol'ssimus Torr.). — Low, compact 

 shrub 2/3 to 3 feet high, the foliage dull and dingy-looking with fine gray- 

 ish hairs; leaves thin, broadly elliptic, with 3 main veins from the base, about 

 2/3 to iy2 (or 2) inches long, finely toothed; flowers white, borne in un- 

 branched clusters near the ends of the branchlets; capsules smooth, nearly 

 round, somewhat 3-lobed at the top, about 1/5 inch in diameter. 



Occurrence. — MESA VERDE: upper Morfield Canyon. 



11. Snowbrush Ceanothus (Ceanothus velutinus Dougl.), fig. 97. — 

 Usually a rather low, rounded shrub, 2 to 5 feet high, with several or many 

 stems from the base; leaves thick and leathery, egg-shaped to elliptic, 1 to 

 21/2 inches long, with 3 main veins, shiny 

 dark-green as if varnished on the upper sur- 

 face, or sticky in var. laerigatus, paler be- 

 neath, the margins with very fine glandular 

 teeth, the veins hairy below; flowers white, 

 borne in oblong clusters 1 to 4 inches long; 

 fruit small, sticky, about 1/6 inch across, 

 3-lobed. 



A form, smaller in all respects and with 

 thinner, less varnished leaves has been re- 

 corded from the upper Kern River and 

 named var. Lorenzeni Jepson. 



Snowbrush ceanothus, so-called because 

 of the fluffy masses of white flowers, is one 

 of the most widely distributed and most 

 abundant of all our species of Ceanothus, 

 being found on the Pacific slope from Brit- 

 ish Columbia to California and as far east 

 as Rocky Mountain National Park in Colo- 

 rado. The bushes may grow 8 to 10 feet 

 high with several ascending stems, or they 

 may be only sprawling shrubs due to the 



heavy snows which hold the branches down during the winter. They often 

 form impenetrable thickets over extensive areas on mountain summits and 

 plateaus. At Crater Lake this species, along with greenleaf manzanita, fre- 

 quently forms the dominant undercover on slopes and in open forests. It is 

 often a pioneer species in burned-over areas. The large, leathery leaves with 

 their somewhat sticky or varnished-looking upper surface and often a strong 

 cinnamon odor distinguish this shrub from red stem ceanothus with which it 



Fig. 97. Snowbrush ceanothus 

 (Ceanothus velutinus) . 



