Ceanothus americanus


Ceanothus americanus is a species of shrub native to North America. Common names include New Jersey tea, Jersey tea ceanothus, variations of red root, mountain sweet, and wild snowball. New Jersey tea was a name coined during the American Revolution, because its leaves were used as a substitute for imported tea.

Description

Ceanothus americanus is a shrub growing between high, having many thin branches. Its root system is thick with fibrous root hairs close to the surface, but with stout, burlish, woody roots that reach deep into the earth—root systems may grow very large in the wild, to compensate after repeated exposures to wildfires. White flowers grow in clumpy inflorescences on lengthy, axillary
peduncles. Fruits are dry, dehiscent, seed capsules.

Habitat

Ceanothus americanus is common on dry plains, prairies, or similar untreed areas, on soils that are sandy or rocky. It can often be located in forest clearings or verges, on banks or lakeshores, and on gentle slopes.

Distribution

Ceanothus americana is found in Canada, in Ontario and Quebec. In the U.S., it is found in Alabama; Arkansas; Connecticut; Delaware; northern and central Florida; Georgia; Illinois; Indiana; Iowa; Kansas; Louisiana; Maine ; Maryland; Massachusetts; Michigan; Minnesota; Mississippi; Missouri; Nebraska; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New York; North and South Carolina; Ohio; Oklahoma; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; eastern and central Texas; Vermont; West Virginia; Wisconsin; and Virginia

Ecology

During winter in the Ozarks of Missouri, its twigs are sought as food by the local deer; and white-tailed deer, in particular, will browse C. americanus year round.
The flowers of C. americanus are used as food by butterflies in the genus Celastrina, including spring azure, and summer azure; and by Erynnis martialis and Erynnis icelus.
Ceanothus americanus seeds are consumed by wild turkeys and quail.

Constituents and medicinal use

The red roots and root bark of New Jersey tea were commonly used by North American Indians for infections of the upper respiratory tract. These Indigenous medicinal practices continue today. The leaves have a fresh scent of wintergreen and were later utilized by the white colonizers as a tea substitute and stimulating caffeine-free beverage. The root bark of the plant is used by herbalists today, and are used notably in remedies for problems of the lymph system. The root contains astringent tannins and a number of peptide alkaloids, including ceanothine A-E, pandamine, zizyphine, scutianine, and the adouetines. They have a mild hypotensive effect. Root and flower extracts can also be used as dyes.