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New Jersey Tea, Ceanothus Americanus, 2019 Virginia Wildlflower of the Year W University of Richmond UR Scholarship Repository Biology Faculty Publications Biology 2019 New Jersey Tea, Ceanothus Americanus, 2019 Virginia Wildlflower of the Year W. John Hayden University of Richmond, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.richmond.edu/biology-faculty-publications Part of the Plant Sciences Commons Recommended Citation W. John Hayden. New Jersey Tea, Ceanothus americanus, 2019 Virginia Wildflower of the Year. Virginia Native Plant Society, 2019. This Brochure is brought to you for free and open access by the Biology at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Biology Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Ceanothus americanus ew Jersey Tea is a low shrub, generally less tips to the periphery of the flower. The five stamens Nthan 1 m tall and often profusely branched. are attached in radial alignment with the petals; fila- Stems are finely hairy, but may become smooth with ments are oriented vertically, positioning the anthers age. Vegetative stems are perennial, but flowering directly above the central portion of the flower. Ova- stems persist for just a single year. Leaves are mostly ries are three-lobed, superior, and positioned atop 5—10 cm long; leaf shape varies from narrowly to thick glandular disks; the short styles are topped with widely ovate, acuminate to acute at the apex, and cor- three-branched stigmas. Fruits possess a finely rugose date to rounded at the base; leaf margins are finely surface layer that is shed prior to ballistic dehiscence serrate; both leaf surfaces may be finely hairy, espe- of the inner layers; in this fashion the three seeds cially on the veins; vein pattern is pinnate with produced by each fruit are propelled a short distance In the Wild a pair of prominent secondary from the parent plant. ew Jersey Tea favors clearings and barrens in veins arising near the base. In- Ndry upland forests; it also occurs in abandoned florescences arise from Human Uses fields and prairies. It thrives in gravelly soils. Well es- the axils of the upper- uring the Revolutionary War, dried leaves of tablished plants are tolerant of fire by virtue of their most leaves of flower- DCeanothus americanus were used as a substi- ability to sprout vigorous new shoots from large, ing shoots; pubescent tute for tea; the leaves are, however, devoid of caf- deep, roots. The fragrant nectar-bearing flowers at- peduncles arising from feine. Native Americans used preparations of root tract butterflies, bees, and diverse small insects. Foli- lower nodes are longer bark for medicinal purposes, a practice that contin- age serves as a larval host for several butterfly species, than their subtending leaves, while those ues today amongst herbalists. Alkaloids from the notably Spring Azures, Summer Azures, and Mottled arising near the flowering shoot apex are root have been demonstrated to exert a mild effect in Duskywings. approximately the same length as upper- lowering blood pressure. New Jersey Tea is a versa- most leaves. The small fragrant flowers are densely tile dye plant, yielding green dye from flowers, red dye clustered, forming umbel-like groups approximately from roots, and cinnamon-colored dye from whole In the Garden 2 cm in diameter. Pedicels are glabrous. There are five plants. Flowers are rich in saponins and will form a ew Jersey Tea can be cultivated in sites with full sepals fused for about half their length with their free gentle lather when crushed and mixed with water. Nsun to part shade and light soil tex- tips flexed inward, converging toward the style. The ture. As such, it is a candidate for land- five petals have narrow bases and hood- or spoon-like scape plantings or naturalistic wild- apices that, in the bud, enclose the anthers; at anthe- Name and Relationships innaeus coined the name Ceanothus americanus flower settings. As is often the sis, petal bases elongate, projecting the broad petal Lin his landmark 1753 work, Species Plantarum; case with deep-rooted plants, it in doing so he arbitrarily applied a genus name that can be challenging to transplant. was first used by Theophrastus, the “Father of Bota- The flowering season, ranging from ny,” for a thistle or thistle-like plant (Ceanothus trans- May to June in Virginia, is relatively lates from Greek as “spiny plant”). The genus Cean- brief. Propagation by seed is best; othus as presently understood consists of 58 species cloth bags will help catch the seeds that range throughout most of North America and as fruits mature; brief scarifying Central America; the center of diversity is California with hot water (180-200 F) fol- where species of Ceanothus are known collectively as lowed by stratification at ca 40 F for California Lilacs. Ceanothus is classified in the plant two or three months will improve family Rhamnaceae. seed germination. Conservation Status New Jersey hile the overall conservation sta- Wtus of New Jersey Tea is secure, it is considered a rare plant in some ex- Tea treme portions of its range. Ceanoth- Ceanothus americanus us americanus is generally rare in the Denizens of the northeast portion of its range, and insect world enjoy especially so in the state of Maine. New Jersey Tea. Gardeners should not collect New Jersey Tea in the wild and should be certain that all native Where to See It plants purchased for home gardens have been eanothus americanus is widespread in eastern nursery-propagated, not wild-collected. For CNorth America, extending from New England, retail sources of nursery-propagated plants and and southern Canada west to Wisconsin, south to responsibly collected seeds, visit www.vnps.org, central Texas and east to mid-peninsular Florida. It e-mail [email protected], or call 540-837-1600. To can be found throughout Virginia, but remains to be see and learn more about interesting species of documented (or may be absent) in several counties of plants native to Virginia, visit www.vnps.org and 2019 the Coastal Plain and Eastern Shore. contact your chapter of VNPS (details on the website) for times and dates of programs and Virginia Wildflower wildflower walks in your area. Ceanothus americanus Virginia Native Plant Society Blandy Experimental Farm of the Year 400 Blandy Farm Lane, Unit 2 Boyce, VA 22620 Text by W. John Hayden, VNPS Botany Chair Color illustrations by Betty Gatewood Pen-and-ink illustrations by Nicky Staunton Color photos by Betty Truax and Rod Simmons From the Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora, vaplantatlas.org Layout by Nancy Sorrells WWW.VNPS.ORG.
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