IMPORTANT WESTERN BROWSE PLANTS 105. 
tribution. There are two main sections or groups of Ceanothi. The 
first of these is the section EKuceanothus which embraces the great 
bulk of the species, whose alternate, mostly large and thin leaves are, 
with few exceptions, palatable to livestock. Some of these shrubs are 
so abundant on the range as to furnish a large percentage of the local 
forage crop. The other section, Cerastes, so named from the horned 
fruiting capsules which suggest the head of a horned viper, embraces 
those species with rigid branches, thick, small, leathery, often op- 
posite, sometimes spiny leaves, in general worthless or poor as forage, 
though the group is often valuable as a nurse crop for conifer repro- 
duction. In general, the Cerastes species are characteristic of the 
drier foothills and low slopes, while most of the Euceanothi are more 
essentially montane and of moister sites. 
The seeds of several Ceanothi are eaten by Indians as pinole and 
seem to be nutritious and palatable; the capsules, however, are of 
varying degrees of bitterness and in many places are wholly rejected 
by grazing animals. Saponin has been found in certain species of 
Ceanothus (95). 
A number of the species of Ceanothus have well-established com- 
mon names. The abbreviated name ceanoth has been applied to other 
members of the genus, but has not been generally adopted. Doctor 
Coville has suggested use of the name soapbloom (in allusion to the 
saponaceous properties of the flowers) for those species of the sec- 
tion Kuceanothus that do not have well-established individual names, 
and of hornbrush for species of the Cerastes section, because of their 
horned fruits, “horny” foliage, and brushlike growth character. 
This usage has been adopted in this treatment. Many of the species 
have showy thyrsiform, sweet-scented panicles of white or bluish 
flowers, whence they are often locally known as lilac. The common 
name, myrtle, is equally untenable for these shrubs. 
Section Euceanothus 
Bluebrush (Ceanothus integerrimus, syn. C. nevadensis) (fig. 29 
and pl. 8, C), is often known locally as sweet birch, the inner bark 
of the season’s twigs having a sweetish sap which possesses a winter- 
_ greenlike odor and flavor reminiscent to many persons of oil of sweet 
_- birch. White-flowered forms give rise to the name whitebrush. 
Other local names include blue blossom, blue bush, and deer brush. 
Bluebrush occurs from Washington to California; aiso in the moun- 
tains of extreme western Nevada and in west-central and southeast- 
ern Arizona. It is typically a loose and slender branched shrub 6 
to 12 feet high; occasionally, however, it is taller (at least 15 feet) 
and arborescent, or treelike; on the other hand, it is sometimes as low 
as 2 feet. In southwestern Oregon occurs a remarkable form with 
minutely toothed leaves somewhat shiny above and almost as thick 
as those of C. velutinus. This group will require much careful field 
study before these variations can be satisfactorily catalogued. 
The species is one of the most characteristic and abundant shrubs 
of the yellow pine belt of the Sierra Nevada, though sometimes occur- 
ring below the yellow pine belt. It is also common in the higher 
Coast Range hills and foothills. It is stated to be fairly common 
along the Verde River in central Arizona, reaching an average 
height of 4 to 6 feet, between about 5,000 and 6,000 feet elevation. 
