XII 

 CEANOTHUS, OR "MOUNTAIN SWEET" 



Ceanothus azureus, or C. cceruleus . The Blue Ceanothus 



var. Gloire de Versailles and 

 others 



Ceanothus amencanus . . . New Jersey Tea, Redwood, Red 



Root 



Ceanothus thyrsiftorus . . . The Thyrse-flowered Ceanothus 

 veitchianus 



1 



blue Ceanothus, C. az^treus, veiled as in a 

 blue mist by the dense curving spikes of its 

 myriads of minute flowers, is a revel of colour. 

 Blueness is rather a rarity in shrub flowering so the 

 lovely azure of this particular species, especially as seen 

 in its variety " Gloire de Versailles," marks it off as of 

 special value in a garden landscape. No wonder the 

 well-known botanist, Robert Brown, the friend of Sir 

 Joseph Banks of plant-loving memory, stood entranced 

 before it when, in the height of its beauty, as a rare 

 and unrecorded shrub, it first caught his eye as he 

 walked in the garden of La Malmaison, near Paris, 

 the year after Waterloo. No wonder he hastened to 

 inquire what it was and whence it came, and made 



a note to see if its fragrant smoke-blue flowers 



84 



