144 RHAMNACEtE. Rhamnus. 



A shrub 2-4 feet high, branching ; the bark of the younger branches grayish. Leaves 

 1-4 inches long, acute at the base, nearly smooth when full grown. Flowers produced on 

 the lower part of the young branches. Pedicels 1-2 lines long. Sepals ovate-lanceolate, 

 spreading. Styles in the sterile flowers short, united ; in the fertile flowers, at length free 

 above, and recurved. Fruit black, the size of a small pea, obtusely triangular ; the pedicel 

 3-4 lines long. Seeds plano-convex, without a furrow. 



Sphagnous swamps in the northern and western parts of the State. Fl. June. Fr. August. 



2. CEANOTHUS. Linn, (in part) ; Brongn. I. c. ; Endl. gen. .5726. 



[An ancient Greek name, applied to a plant supposed to resemble this genus.] 



Calyx 5-cleft ; the upper portion at length separating by a transverse line ; the tube adhering 

 to the base of the ovary. Petals 5, longer than the calyx, saccate or cucullate and arched, 

 compressed, on long slender claws. Stamens exserted : anthers ovate, 2-celled. Disk 

 annular, somewhat 5-angled, fleshy on the margin, surrounding the ovary. Styles 3, united 

 to the middle, diverging above. Fruit dry and coriaceous, usually 3-celled, obtusely tri- 

 angular and somewhat tricoccous, surrounded below by the persistent tube of the calyx ; 

 the cells at length opening by the inner suture. Seeds oval, without a lateral furrow. — 

 Shrubs or suffrutescent plants, not thorny, with large reddish astringent roots. Leaves 

 alternate, mostly ovate or elliptical, serrate or entire. Flowers (perfect) white, blue or 

 yellowish, in umbel-like fascicles which are aggregated at the extremity of the branches in 

 small dense thyrsoid panicles or corymbs. 



1. Ceanothus Americanus, Linn, N&w-Jersey Tea. Red-root. 



Leaves ovate or oblong-ovate, 3-ribbed from the base, acuminate, serrate, nearly smooth 

 above, more or less velvety-pubescent underneath ; peduncles axillary, elongated ; thyrsus 

 oblong, leafless. — Michx.Jl. I. p. 154 ; Bot. mag. t. 1479 ; Pursh, fl. l.p. 167 ; Ell. sk. 1. 

 p. 290 ; Torr.fl. l.p. 260 ; Bigel.fl. Bost. p. 91 ; DC. prodr. 2. p. 31 ; Hook.Jl. Bor.-Am. 

 1. p. 124 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 148 ; Torr. <^ Gr. fl. N. Am. 1. 264. 



Root dark red. Stem shrubby or suffruticose, 2-3 feet high, with numerous terete pu- 

 bescent branches. Leaves 2-3 inches long, the base acute or sometimes slightly cordate, 

 the serratures tipped with black glands ; the petiole 3-4 lines long. Peduncles often longer 

 than the leaves, naked, or with 1-2 small leaves at the base of the thyrsus. Pedicels, calyx 

 and corolla white. Disk with a 10-tootlicd border. Seeds, when fully ripe, convex on both 

 sides, of a brownish or ash-color, smooth and shining : testa coriaceous. 



Dry woods and copses ; common. Fl. Latter part of June. Fr. September. 



The leaves of this plant, when properly dried, form a pretty good substitute for tea, and 

 were used for that purpose during the American Revolution. 



