#9 Get Cleaned up for Spring with Ceanothus
- Rowan Darko
- Feb 13
- 2 min read
One of the most striking experiences I have ever had in my wanders through the Santa Cruz Mountains was seeing the masses of ceanothus in bloom on the mountaintops of Big Basin State Park just a couple years after the CZU Complex fire tore through much of the park and surrounding forests. As I traveled across the ridge trail bush after bush of ceanothus in bloom filled the air with the sweetest of floral forest scents. The fire of a few years past had cleared the canopy above and activated the seeds of the ceanothus setting up this perfect bloom.
This sturdy plant doesn’t have to wait for an old growth forest canopy to burn to thrive - though the fire ecology of the area does explain its adapting to survive the passing by of flames and return fairly quickly after to take advantage of the sunlight. You’ll find this plant mixed throughout all of the sunnier environments of the Santa Cruz mountains. Most typically it is associated with the chaparral - another environment with a fire ecology shared by the redwood forest.
Their blooms come in thumb sized clusters of tiny flowers that range from white and pale purple to strikingly vibrant purples and blues. Their resemblance to lilacs earns them one of their common names: California Lilac. Though, they are only related to lilacs in so much as both are flowers. Ceanothus falls within the buckthorn family - or Rhamnacea. True lilacs fall within the olive family - or Oleaceae.
The smell is sweet and distinctly floral. It is light and best observed in a thick patch of blooms. But personally, I find it rather hypnotizing. The sensory delights of ceanothus are not the only boons of its blooms. These flowers also contain saponins - a type of chemical which can help to remove dirt and oils through sudsing action when combined with water.
Just tear off a clump of flowers, add water to your hands, and scrub. You’ll notice the flowers start to get all bubbly as they rinse the oils and dirt off. This is really useful out in the woods when you don’t have soap around after a trip to the loo-with-a-view and can even help remove the urishiol found on poison oak!
Sources:
Fascinating, who knew? Thanks for the info!