ceanothus

[see-uh-noh-thuh s]

noun, plural ce·a·no·thus·es.

any North American shrub or small tree of the largely western genus Ceanothus, having clusters of small white or blue flowers.

Origin of ceanothus

< New Latin (Linnaeus) < Greek keánōthos a species of thistle

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for ceanothus

Historical Examples of ceanothus

The genus Ceanothus is well known from the beautiful C. azureus.
Botany for Ladies
Jane Loudon
It is our holly, as the Ceanothus is our lilac, and the poison-oak is our autumn-red sumac.
Insect Stories
Vernon L. Kellogg
It led far up the ridge into an open place surrounded by a hedge-like growth of ceanothus chaparral.
My First Summer in the Sierra
John Muir
Blue myrtle (Ceanothus thyrsiflorus) is a California species, sometimes called wild lilac or blue blossoms.
American Forest Trees
Henry H. Gibson
Its ample bright-green, highly varnished leaves and large white flower-clusters make this a very beautiful species of Ceanothus.
The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and Habits
Mary Elizabeth Parsons

British Dictionary definitions for ceanothus

ceanothus

noun

any shrub of the North American rhamnaceous genus Ceanothus: grown for their ornamental, often blue, flower clusters

Word Origin for ceanothus

C19: New Latin, from Greek keanōthos a kind of thistle

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012