Ceanothus americanus L.

Common New Jersey Tea; Red Shank; Freckle Weed

Shrub

Perennial

Vascular

New Jersey Tea is a native subshrub in the Buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae). It can be found throughout Alabama. New Jersey Tea grows in dry woods, around rockoutcrops, on roadside banks, on shell middens, and in prairies. New Jersey Tea grows from 1-3 feet in height. The stems are several from a woody, gnarled, rootstock. The stems are more or less herbaceous, dying back to near soil level or to the rootstock each year. Stems are pubescent with short curling hairs and long straight hairs. Leaves are alternate, petiolate, and ovate to lanceolate in outline. The petioles and under surfaces of the leaves are pubescent. The margins of the leaves are serrate with gland tipped teeth, these appearing as black or red dots. There are two prominent veins from the base of the leaf that arch along the midrib and end at the leaf margin above the middle. Fragrant flowers are produced in a cylindrical axillary or terminal thyrse. Individual flowers have a cup-like floral tube. There are five white petals. The petals are hooded and each clasps an anther in bud. The fruit is a three lobed capsule-like drupe. The seed are explosively ejected when mature. New Jersey Tea is often available in the wildflower trade. It prefers a well-draining soil in full sun. Once established it is drought resistant. The dried leaves of New Jersey Tea were used as a tea substitute during the Revolutionary War. The roots and leaves of New Jersey Tea have been used in herbal medicine where it goes by the common names of Red Root or Red Shank. The larvae of several butterflies and moths use New Jersey Tea as a host plant, and the seed are consumed by ground foraging birds such as Wild Turkey and Bobwhite Quail.--A. Diamond

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Native G5 (Global Rank)

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