BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Ceanothus americanus | New Jersey Tea 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
New Jersey tea is a small- to medium-size shrub from 1.5 to 3.5 feet
(0.5-1.0 m) tall with numerous, slender, ascending branches. It has
shallow, fibrous root hairs near the surface and thick, burllike, deep,
woody roots.  Root crown diameter can be quite large after repeated
fires [5,14,23].  The flowers are in small clusters on long axillary
peduncles.  The fruit is a three-lobed, dry, dehiscent capsule [4,13].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Phanerophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
New Jersey tea reproduces from seed and by sprouting.  It is propagated
from stem or root cuttings [5,23,34].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
New Jersey tea is widespread and can be found on dry open plains and
prairielike areas, on sandy or rocky soils in clearings at the edge of
woods, on riverbanks or lakeshores, in woodlands, and on hillsides
[17,27,36].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Facultative Seral Species

New Jersey tea is an early- to mid-seral species [15,21].  It can
rapidly colonize disturbed sites where its nitrogen-fixing ability gives
it a competitive edge over other species [7].  New Jersey tea declines
as successional communities mature [15,21].  New Jersey tea has
disappeared from a dry sand prairie in Indiana where it was observed in
1897.  Fire exclusion, woody plant invasion, and possibly pollution have
altered the structure and species composition in the area [9].  New
Jersey tea is found in greatest abundance at high light intensities
[25].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
New Jersey tea flowers from May through July.  Its fruit ripens from
August to early October [23].

Related categories for Species: Ceanothus americanus | New Jersey Tea