DEER-BRUSH (Ceanothus integerrimus, H & A.). Flowers 

 white or sometimes blue, individually small, but very showy in 

 feathery clusters sometimes 6 or 7 inches high, and 3 or 4 

 inches through. Leaves alternate, thin, ovate or oblong, 1 

 to 3 inches in length. Blooming in spring or early summer in 

 the mountains from Southern California to Oregon. It covers 

 considerable areas in the Yosemite region, where it is a notice- 

 able sight. It is a shrub from 5 to 12 feet high with long flexible 

 branches, and bark that tastes somewhat like wintergreen. 



Deer and cattle find Deer-brush a palatable browse, so that 

 this common name is of obvious origin. Soap-bush, too, is a 

 name sometimes met with, which is descriptive of a very inter- 

 esting property not only of this Ceanothus, but of all of the 

 species I have tested. The flowers or green seed-vessels, if 

 rubbed up for a moment or two in water, develop a more or 

 less abundant lather which is cleansing like soap a fact that 

 campers and mountain ramblers will do well to bear in mind. 

 The various species also go under the name of Myrtle, and are 

 Far West cousins of that little bush New Jersey Tea, familiar 

 to Easterners, whose leaves were used for a homely beverage 

 during the Revolutionary War. 



