2. Ceanothus herbaceus Raf. (redroot, inland New Jersey tea)

C. herbaceus var. pubescens (Torr. & A. Gray ex S. Watson) Shinners

C. ovatus Desf.

C. ovatus var. pubescens Torr. & A. Gray ex S. Watson

Pl. 521 a, b; Map 2395

Plants shrubs, 30–100 cm tall, the branches ascending. Leaf blades 1–6 cm long, 0.5–2.0 cm wide, elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, sometimes narrowly so, occasionally oblong-lanceolate or oblanceolate, angled to rounded at the base, angled or slightly tapered to a usually bluntly pointed tip, the upper surface sparsely to moderately pubescent with short, somewhat cobwebby hairs, rarely glabrous, the undersurface moderately to densely short-hairy, rarely glabrous or nearly so. Inflorescences terminal on the main branchlets of the present year’s growth, relatively short-stalked, the inflorescence stalk generally shorter than the subtending leaf. Sepals 0.5–1.0 mm long. Petals 1.5–2.5 mm long. 2n=24. April–June.

Uncommon in the western half of the state, sporadic farther east (Vermont to Montana south to Virginia, Louisiana, and New Mexico; Canada). Upland prairies, loess hill prairies, glades, and openings of dry upland forests.

Brizicky (1964a, b) outlined the reasons for changing the long-accepted name, C. ovatus, to the more obscure epithet, C. herbaceus. When it was described, C. herbaceus was mistakenly thought to be a herbaceous perennial rather than a small shrub, which contributed to earlier confusion about the taxonomy of the group. Some authors have segregated plants with the leaf blades relatively densely hairy on the undersurface as var. pubescens (Steyermark, 1963), but most recent authors have accepted Soper’s (1941) conclusion that this represents merely pubescent forms of the species that occur throughout its range.