Ceanothus. New Jersey tea, Red-root. Ceanothus americanus L.
Ceanothus. Ceanothus americanus L. New Jersey Tea. Red-root. Ceanothe, Fr. Seckelblumen-wurzel, G.—A small indigenous shrub, of the fam. Rhamnaceae, growing from western Ontario and Maine southward. The root is astringent, and imparts a red color to water. H. K. Bowman found in it 9.21 per cent. of tannin. (A. J. P., 1869, 195.) F. C. Gerlach has again examined the root. (A. J. P., 1891, 332.) He finds 6.48 per cent. of tannin and 0.52 per cent. of an alkaloid to which he gives the name ceanothine. J. H. M. Clinch has found in the leaves a resin and a volatile oil. (A. J. P., xiv, 1884.) J. A. Buckner (A. J. P., 1891, 428) found 9.45 per cent. of tannin in the leaves. Ceanothus is said to be useful in syphilis. Schoepf states that it is purgative. The leaves were used during the Revolutionary War as a substitute for tea. The Mexican C. caeruleus Lagasca (C. azureus Desf.) is used as a febrifuge.
