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Buckthorns

This species is notable for having the heaviest wood of all American trees. A cubic foot of it weighs 81.14 pounds. Its specific gravity is 1.3020. The ashes, after a stick burns, weigh 8 1/3 per cent. of the original weight, proving a remarkably high percentage of mineral substance in the wood.

The California Lilac, or Blue Myrtle (Ceanothus thyrsiflorus, Esch.), is related to the shrubby New Jersey tea, or redroot of the eastern half of the continent. But it is a California species, and there we shall find it in all stages from a small shrub on the bleak lower coast to a towering tree 40 feet high among the redwoods, and on the hillsides of Mendocino County. It keeps to the western part of the state. The most striking feature of this plant is the inflorescence. The twigs end in clusters of small, blue, fragrant flowers (rarely white), which suggest nothing more than our garden lilac blooms, in miniature. The leaves are small with peculiar venation, having three midribs instead of one. From this native species have been derived forms of showier bloom, which are extensively planted. These California lilacs do poorly in the Eastern States, but much better in Europe.

The Spiny Lilac (Ceanothus spinosus, Nutt.) grows in canon sides in southern California, and a velvety-branched species (C. arboreus, Greene) is found only on the Santa Barbara Islands.