180 



ARBOUETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



Genus VI. 



CEANO^THUS L. 



Identification. Lin. 



1. p. 264. 

 Engravings. Bot. Mag., t 



The Ceanothus, or Red Root. Lin. Syst. 

 Pentandria Monogynia. 



Identification. Brongn. M=m. Rham., p. 62. ; Hook. Fl. Bor. Amer., 1. p. 124.; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 31. ; 



Don's Mill., 2 p. 37. 

 Synonymes. Hha.mnnayec\es L., Juss., Lam.\ Ceanothe, Fr. ; Sakebbaum, Ger. 

 Derivation. From keanothus^ a name employed by Theophrastus to designate a spiny plant, derived 



from ked, to cleave : the modern genus has, however, nothing to do with the plant of Theophrastus. 



The English name. Red Root, is given to the plant in America, from the red colour of the roots, 



V hich are of a large size in proportion to the branches. 



Gen. Char. Calyx with a subhemispherical tube, and 5 connivent segments. 

 Petals 5, iinguiculate, cucuUate, deflexed. Stamens with ovate 2-celled an- 

 thers. Disk spongy, annular. Ovary spherical, girded by the disk, 3-celled. 

 Slyles 3, diverging, terminated by small papilliform stigmas. Fruit tricoc- 

 cous, girded by the circumcised tube of the calyx. (Don's Mill.) 



Leaves simple, alternate, stipulate, persistent or deciduous ; ovate or ellipti- 

 cal, serrated or entire. Flowers terminal or a.xillary, in elongated racemes. 

 Shrubs, natives of North America, very ornamental in British gardens, 

 and easily propagated by cuttings of the young wood, planted in sand, and 

 covered with a hand-glass. Most of the species produce seeds freely in 

 British gardens, and they all grow in any common garden soil. 



I. C. america'nus I/. The American Ceanothus, or Red Root ; or New 



Jersey Tea. 

 Spec, 281. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 31. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 37. ; Tor. and Gray, 



1497. ; and our fig. 271 . 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Leaves ovate, acuminate, serrated, pubescent beneath. 

 Thyrse elongated, axillary, with a pubescent rachis. {Dons Mill.) A de- 

 ciduous suftrutescent low shrub. Canada to Florida, in woods and copses. 

 Height 1ft. to 3 ft.; in British gardens, 2ft. to 4ft. Introduced in 1713. 

 Flowers white ; June to August. Fruit black ; ripe in September. 



Varieties. Torrey and Gray describe three varieties, 



C. a. 2 Pitcheri, C. a. 3 her- 

 baceus (C perennis Piirsh, C. 

 ovatus Desf.), and C. a. 4 

 intermedins (C. intermedins 

 Pursh, fig. 271.) ; but we 

 scarcely think they are worth 

 keeping apart in collections. 



Stems shrubby, or sufFruticose. 



Leaves 2 in. to 3 in. long. 



The leaves and stems of the 



plant are pubescent ; and the 



Howers, being produced in great 



numbers together, are very orna- 

 mental. They are succeeded by bluntly triangular cap- 

 sules ; and, about London, in fine seiLsons, the seeds 

 ripen. Any soil that is tolerably dry. Seeds or cuttings. 

 The leaves of this plant, dried, were used by the Americans as a substitute 

 for Chinese tea, during the war of independence. 



ak 2. C AZU^REUS Desf. The azuveflowered Ceanothus, or Red Root. 



Identification. Desf. Cat., 1S15, p. 232. ; Doc. Prod., 2. p. 31. ; Don's Mill., 1. p. 37. 

 Sunoniimes. C. cEerilleus Lag. Gen. et Spec. l!fi,p. 11. ; C.bicolor JIV/W in Sc/tuit. SySt. i. p. 65. 

 Engravings. Bot. Reg., t. 291. ; Lodd. Bot. Cab., t. 110. ; and our fig. 273. 



27 1. C. a. inttTin^dius- 



272. Ceanothus americilnus. 



