[Plate 42. j 



THE TOOTHED CEANOTHE. 



(CEANOTHUS DENTATUS.) 



A Half-hardy Evergreen Shrub, from California, belonging to the Natural Order 0/ Rhamnads. 



Specific Character, 



THE TOOTHED CEANOTHE.— A branched evergreen bush, closely coated with ferruginous hairs. Leaves small, 

 oblong, rounded at each end, or almost cordate, coarsely toothed, and revolute at the edge, where they are 

 furnished with distinct slightly stalked glands ; smooth, shining, and deep green on the upper side. Flowers in 

 terminal, stalked, roundish or oblong thyrses or umbels. 



Ceanothus dentatus : Torrey and Gray, Flora of North America, vol. i., p. 268. 



DURING Douglas's last journey in California, this plant was first met with, but where 

 is unknown. From specimens communicated to Drs. Torrey and Gray by the Horti- 

 cultural Society, it was described by those authors. From Californian seeds, procured for 

 the same Society by the collector Hartweg, it has now been raised in the Society's garden, 

 whence it has been also extensively distributed among the Fellows. The plant which pro- 

 duced the specimen here represented flowered in Her Majesty's garden at Frogmore, under 

 the care of Mr. Ingram. 



It is a small bush, covered all over with rusty down, except upon the upper side of the 

 leaves. In the cultivated plant the branches are five or six inches long, but in the wild 

 specimens they are not more than a third of that length. The leaves are deep green, shining, 

 wavy, strongly toothed, and rolled back at the edge, quite blunt, and somewhat heart- 

 shaped at the base, on short stalks, furnished with a pair of triangular scale-like stipules. 

 On the edge of the leaves appear many oblong fleshy stalked glands, which in the beginning 

 are pale green, afterwards become yellow, and finally acquire a deep brown colour. To their 

 presence is due a heavy, unpleasant, but slight odour, which is perceptible when the plant 

 is touched; they afford an excellent specific character, but have been overlooked by Messrs. 

 Torrey and Gray. The flowers are bright blue, bordering on violet, and are produced in 

 stalked heads, which are sometimes racemes, sometimes thyrses, and even almost umbels. 



