1. Ceanothus americanus L. (New Jersey tea, wild snowball)

C. americanus var. intermedius (Pursh) Torr. & A. Gray

C. americanus var. pitcheri Torr. & A. Gray

Pl. 521 h, i; Map 2394

Plants shrubs, 40–100 cm tall, the branches ascending. Leaf blades 1–8(–10) cm long, 0.5–5.0 cm wide, oblong or oblong-ovate, sometimes broadly so, broadly angled to rounded or shallowly cordate at the base, angled or slightly tapered to a bluntly or sharply 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 short branchlets that are axillary on the main branchlets of the current-year’s growth, relatively long-stalked, the inflorescence stalk generally longer than the subtending leaf. Sepals 0.5–1.0 mm long. Petals 1.5–2.5 mm long. 2n=24. May–November.

Scattered nearly throughout the state, but absent from most of the Mississippi Lowlands Division (eastern U.S. west to Minnesota, Nebraska, and Texas; Canada).

Some authors separate this species into three varieties. The var. americanus, with the leaves glabrous or sparsely hairy, mostly along the veins, occurs to the east of Missouri. Plants with the leaves persistently and densely short-hairy have been called var. pitcheri and occur nearly thoughout the species range, but tend to predominate in the western portion, including Missouri. An uncommon variant that has a more densely branched habit than that of the other varieties and relatively small leaves (mostly 1–4 vs. 2.5–6.0 cm) is known as var. intermedius. It occurs mostly on the Coastal Plain in the southeastern United States, but has been found sporadically in the eastern half of Missouri. Brizicky (1964a) noted that various authors have circumscribed this variant in somewhat different ways, resulting in different distributional ranges for the taxon. He suggested that until further taxonomic research could be completed, the complex should probably be regarded as a single polymorphic taxon.