Vox,. II.] 



BUCKTHORN FAMILY. 



407 



3. CEANOTHUS L. Sp. PL 195. 1753. 



Shrubs, with alternate petioled leaves, and terminal or axillary cymose panicles of white 

 blue or yellowish perfect flowers. Calyx-tube hemispheric, or top- shaped, the limb 5-lobed. 

 Petals 5, hooded, clawed, longer than the calyx-lobes, inserted under the disk. Stamens 5; 

 filaments filiform, elongated. Ovary immersed in the disk and adnate to it at the base, 

 3-lobed. Disk adnate to the calyx. Style short, 3-cleft. Fruit dry, 3-lobed, separating 

 longitudinally at maturity into 3 nutlets. Seed-coat smooth; endosperm fleshy; cotyledons 

 oval or obovate. [Name used by Theophrastus for some different plant.] 



About 35 species, natives of North America and northern Mexico. 



Leaves ovate or ovate-oblong, pubescent. i. C. Americanus. 



Leaves oblong or oval-lanceolate, glabrate. 2. C. ovatus. 



i. Ceanothus Americanus L,. New 

 Jersey Tea. Red-root. (Fig. 2396.) 



Ceanothus Americanus L- Sp. PL 195. 1753- 



Stems erect or ascending, branching, sev- 

 eral commonly together from a deep reddish 

 root, puberulent, especially above. Leaves 

 ovate or ovate-oblong, 1'-$' long, yi'-i' wide, 

 acute or acuminate at the apex, obtuse or 

 subcordate at the base, finely pubescent, es- 

 pecially beneath, serrate all around, strongly 

 3-nerved; petioles 2 // -5 // long; peduncles 

 terminal and axillary, elongated, often leafy 

 bearing dense oblong cymose panicles of 

 small white flowers; pedicels 3 // -6 // long, 

 white; claws of the petals very narrow; 

 fruit depressed, about 2" high, nearly black. 



In dry open woods, Ontario to Manitoba, south 

 to Florida and Texas. May-July. Ascends to 

 4200 ft. in North Carolina. An infusion of the 

 leaves was used as tea by the American troops 

 during the Revolution. Also called Wild 

 Snowball. 



2. Ceanothus ovatus Desf. Smaller 

 Red-root. (Fig. 2397.) 



Ceanothus ovalus Desf. Hist. Arb. 2: 381. 1809. 

 Ceanothus ovalis Bigel. Fl. Bost. Ed. 2: 92. 1824. 

 Similar to the preceding species, but gener- 

 ally a smaller shrub and nearly glabrous 

 throughout. Leaves oblong, or oval-lanceo- 

 late, i / -2 / long, 3 // ~9 // wide, mainly obtuse at 

 eachjend, but sometimes acute at the apex, gla- 

 brous, or with a few hairs on the principal 

 veins, serrate with prominently gland-tipped 

 teeth; peduncles short, nearly always terminal, 

 bearing dense short cymose panicles of white 

 flowers; pedicels slender, 4 // -7 // long; fruit 

 nearly as in C. Americanus. 



In rocky places and on prairies, Ontario to Min- 

 nesota and the Black Hills, south to Massachusetts, 

 Illinois and Texas. Rare or absent along the 

 Atlantic coast. May-June. 



Ceanothus ovatus pubescens T. & G.; S. Wats. Bibl. Index, i: 166. 1878. 

 Leaves, petioles and peduncles densely pubescent. Iowa to Arkansas and Texas. 



Family 72. VITACEAE Lindl. Nat. Syst. Ed. 2, 30. 1836. 



GRAPE FAMILY. 



Climbing or erect shrubs, with copious watery sap, nodose joints, alternate 

 petioled leaves, and small regular greenish perfect or polygamo-dioecious flow- 

 ers, in panicles, racemes or cymes. Calyx entire or 4-5-toothed. Petals 4-5, 



