Red Root

Red Root (Ceanothus), a genus of deciduous shrubs of the natural order Rhamnaceæ. The common Red Root of North America (C. americanus), which abounds from Canada to Florida, is a shrub of two to four feet high, with beautiful thyrsi of numerous small white flowers. It is sometimes called New Jersey Tea, an infusion of its leaves being sometimes used as tea. It serves also as an astringent, and for dyeing wool of a cinnamon colour. A Mexican species has blue flowers, and a Californian kind is used for evergreen hedges.