Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants

Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicots

Family: Rhamnaceae -- buckthorn

Common Name: redstem ceanothus, Oregon tea-tree

Species Code: CESA

Origin: Native to moist open areas, shrub thickets and forests of western North America from British Columbia to northern California and east to Montana.

Rare: no

Form: shrub, erect, 1-3m tall, often forming thickets.

Duration: perennial

Longevity: long

Habitat Type: shrub thickets, forest

Wetland Indicator Status: Non-indicator

Leaves: alternate, deciduous, ovate, 3-10 cm long, with 3 prominent veins from the leaf base, margins finely dentate.

Mature height: 4-10 feet

Flowers: white, clustered in panicles.

Flowers color: white

Bloom: May, June

Bloom starts on: mid May

Bloom ends on: mid June

Fruit: capsule, 4mm long.

Characteristics:
Reproduces sexually by seed.
128,000-192,000 seeds/lb (Hassell et al 1996).
150,667 seeds/lb (USDA NRCS PLANTS Database 2009).
x=6, 2n=24 (University of British Columbia 2003).
Polyploidy is present.
Roots have nitrogen fixing nodules inhabited by a bacteria (Furman 1959).
Nodule formation is dependent on soil moisture, nutrient balance, and age and health of the individual plant (Walls & Zamora 2001).
Flowers are perfect.
Some native people used the plant for medicinal purposes and the wood for smoking meat (Moerman 2003).
Fruit is a capsule.
Deer and elk browse the plants heavily.
Highly valuable forage for Rocky Mountain elk in summer, fall, and winter (Kufeld 1973).
Cattle, sheep and big game use the plants, especially in fall and winter (Roche & Roche 1991).
Ceanothus is a host for the larva of the pale swallowtail (Papilo eurymedon), the western or brown elfin (Incisalia iriodes), the California tortoiseshell (Nymphalis californica), and the spring azure (Celastrina echo) butterflies (Pocewicz 2005).

Sun requirement: full sun, tolerates some shade

Soil moisture: mesic

Precipitation: 13-35 inches (USDA NRCS PLANTS Database 2009).

Fire: C. sanguineus is a fire adapted species dependent upon fire to maintain openings in the forest canopy. Resprouts from the crown and from seed stored in the seed bank (Johnson 2000).
C. sanguineus increases after fire (Parish et al 1996, Patterson et al 1985).

Transplant time: spring

Stratification: Seeds require heat scarification

Seed yield: no information available

Seed first harvest: no information available

Planting duration: no information available

Seed insect problem: no information available

Seed size: large

Seed harvest date: no information available

Herbaria: Specimen data and digital resources from The Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria

Key words: shrub

Propagation:
3 protocols in the Native Plant Network
seed, Glacier National Park
seed, University of Kentucky
vegetative, Glacier National Park, Montana

Other Propagation Information:
Hot water scarify, then 90 days cold moist stratification. Acid scarification or gibberellic acid will also improve germination (Rose et al 1998).
Hot water scarification, then 4 months cold moist stratification (Radwan & Crouch 1977).
Hot water scarify to break the impermeable seed coat, then 90 days cold moist stratification. Seeds can be stored for long periods (Gratkowski 1973).
Seeds need heat scarification (Patterson et al 1985).
Seeds have impermeable seed coats and morphological dormancy and require either hot water or sulfuric acid scarification followed by 2 months cold moist stratification at 34-40^oF (Heit 1967).
Reproduces sexually by seed.

References:
Furman, Thomas E. 1959. The Structure of the Root Nodules of Ceanothus sanguineus and Ceanothus velutinus, with Special Reference to the Endophyte. American Journal of Botany 46:698-703.

Gratkowski, H. 1973. Pregermination Treatments for Redstem Ceanothus Seeds. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Research Paper PNW 156. 10 p.

Hassell, Wendell, W. Rocky Beavers, Steve Ouellette, and Thomas Mitchell. 1996. Seeding Rate Statistics for Native and Introduced Species. Denver, CO: U.S. Dept of Interior and USDA, NRCS.

Heit, C. E. 1967. Propagation from seed. Part 7: Germinating Six Hardseeded Groups. American Nurseryman. 125(12): 10-12; 37-41; 44-45.

Johnson, Kathleen A. 2000. Ceanothus sanguineus. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis [2009, July 30].

Kufeld, Roland. 1973. Foods Eaten by the Rocky Mountain Elk. Journal of Range Management 26:106-113.

Moerman, Dan. 2003. Native American Ethnobotany: a Database of Foods, Drugs, Dyes and Fibers of Native American Peoples, Derived from Plants. University of Michigan-Dearborn. Online at http://herb.umd.umich.edu Accessed 1/3/08.

Parish, Roberta, Ray Coupe, and Dennis Lloyd. 1996. Plants of Southern Interior British Columbia. Vancouver, BC, Canada: Lone Pine Publishing.

Patterson, Patricia A, Kenneth E. Neiman, and Jonalea R. Tonn. 1985. Field Guide to Forest Plants of Northern Idaho. Ogden, UT: USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station. General Technical Report INT-180.

Pocewicz, Amy. 2005. Host Plants of Palouse Butterfly Species. 2 page handout to accompany the April 2005 presentation to the Palouse Prairie Foundation.

Radwan, M.A., and G.L. Crouch. 1977. Seed Germination and Seedling Establishment of Redstem Ceanothus. Journal of Wildlife Management. 41:760-766.

Roche, Ben F., Jr., and Cindy Talbott Roche. 1991. Eastern Washington Range Plants. Pullman WA: Washington State University Coop. Extension Service. Extension Bulletin 1302. 66 p.

Rose, Robin, Caryn E.C. Chachulski, and Diane L. Haase. 1998. Propagation of Pacific Northwest Native Plants. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University Press.

University of British Columbia. 2003. British Columbia Flora. University of British Columbia Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research. Online at http://www.bcflora.org Accessed 1/1/06.

USDA NRCS. 2009. The PLANTS Database Baton Rouge, LA: National Plant Data Center. http://plants.usda.gov 30 July 2009.

Walls, Lee, and Benjamin A. Zamora. 2001. Nitrogen-Fixing Nodule Characterization and Morphology of Four Species in the Northern Intermountain Region. pp. 295-301 in: McArthur, E. Durant, and Daniel J. Fairbanks (comps.). 2001. Shrubland Ecosystem Genetics and Biodiversity: Proceedings. June 13-15, 2000, Provo, UT. Ogden, UT: US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. Proceedings RMRS-P-21. 365 p.

Links:
Plant Profile from the USDA PLANTS Database
Species account from the Fire Effects Information System
Species information from the University of Washington Herbarium