68o 



California Lilacs 



and gardens. Califomian local names are Blue myrtle, Blue blossom, Wild lilac, 



and Tick tree. 



The thin red-brown bark is finely 

 scaly. The young twigs are strongly 

 ridged and angled, finely hairy, yellow- 

 ish green, becoming smooth, round and 

 brown. The leaves vary from oblong to 

 ovate, and from 2 to 5 cm. in length; they 

 are blunt or bluntish at the apex, nar- 

 rowed or sometimes rounded at the base, 

 finely toothed, 3-nerved, smooth and 

 shining on the upper side, more or less 

 hairy on the under surface, at least along 

 the veins; the leaf-stalks vary from 4 to 

 12 mm. long. The dense compound 

 hairy flower-clusters are 5 to 10 cm. 

 long, borne at the ends of twigs of the 



season; the flowers are blue or white, fragrant, and open from March to April; 



the sepals are broadly ovate, the claw of the petals as long as the blade or longer, 



the stamens as long as the petals or shorter. The 3-lobed fruit is black. 

 The wood is brown, soft, and weak, with a specific gravity of about 0.57. 



Fig. 631. California Lilac. 



2. SPINY CEANOTHUS Ceanothus spinosus Nuttall 



Inhabiting valleys and canons in southern Cahfomia, and usually a mere shrub, 

 this species rarely forms a tree 6 or 7 meters 

 high, with a trunk 1.5 dm. in diameter or 

 less. 



The bark is red-brown and scaly, the 

 young twigs finely hairy, green, somewhat 

 angled, becoming brown, some of them 

 tipped by stout thorns i to 3 cm. long. 

 The leaves are elHptic to oblong-obovatc, 

 blunt, bluntish or notched at the apex, nar- 

 rowed at the base, 2 to 4 cm. long, pin- 

 nately veined, firm in texture, entire-mar- 

 gined, or those of shoots sometimes toothed, 

 persistent during the winter, hair)' on the 

 under side when young, smooth or nearly so 

 on both sides when old, the upper surface 

 dark green, the under side paler. The com- 

 pound, rather loose flower-clusters are 1.5 

 dm. long or less, borne at the ends of twigs; fig. 632. Spiny Ceanothus. 



