# Prairie Redroot (Ceanothus herbaceus) > A knee-high prairie shrub for dry, limy ground, with round clusters of white flowers in spring that feed bees and butterflies, and roots that fix nitrogen. Also called inland New Jersey tea, narrow-leaved New Jersey tea, inland ceanothus, smaller redroot. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/prairie-redroot/ ![Prairie redroot (Ceanothus herbaceus) round clusters of small white flowers over narrow leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/prairie-redroot-h1610-800.jpg) *Photo: Joshua Mayer, CC BY-SA 2.0 ยท [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACeanothus_herbaceus_%288932989532%29.jpg)* ## Facts - Type: Shrub - Mature height: 2 to 3 ft - USDA hardiness zones: 4 to 8 - Grows wild in: Rocky ground, dry uplands, sandy barrens, old fields and edges - Native range: 27 states and the District of Columbia, north to North Dakota, south to Louisiana and west to Montana (Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming and the District of Columbia) - Sun: Full, Part - Soil moisture: Dry, Average - Growth rate: Slow - Traits: Showy flowers, Wildlife value, Drought tolerant, Nitrogen fixing - Sold as: Saplings, Seed Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them. ## Availability Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed. ## Notes Prairie redroot is a small shrub of the buckthorn family and the inland cousin of our New Jersey tea, with narrower leaves and a taste for drier, limier ground. Bacteria in its roots fix nitrogen, so it thrives on poor, rocky soil. Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio and Vermont list it as endangered. Grow it in a rock garden, a gravel bed or on a dry, sunny bank where little else will grow. ## Size, growth and what to expect No source rates its growth, so our growth estimator treats it as a slow grower, like our New Jersey tea, about a foot a year. It makes a bushy shrub 2 to 3 feet tall and 1 to 2 feet wide over a thick rootstock, and its new shoots can die back in winter. The narrow, finely toothed leaves run 1 to nearly 3 inches long, with three main veins from the base. Dense, rounded clusters of tiny white flowers open from April to June at the tips of the leafy shoots. Bees and butterflies take the nectar, and it is a host plant of the mottled duskywing and spring azure. In late summer the three-lobed capsules split and throw their seeds, and birds eat the seed and nest in the shrub. It grows wild on rocky, open hillsides, limestone glades and outcrops, little bluestem and sand prairies, and river bluffs, often rooted in cracks in limestone. Its range runs from Vermont and New York west to Montana and Wyoming, and south to Louisiana and Texas. ## How to grow Prairie Redroot Prairie redroot wants full sun, though it takes light shade. Give it a dry to medium soil that drains well, alkaline if you can. Clay, sandy loam and limy soil all suit it, and once established it stands long droughts. Set plants 2 feet apart and keep them 2 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires. Saplings ship potted. Its deep, spreading roots resent disturbance, so plant it young and leave it in place. Plant it in a hole wider than the pot and no deeper, set the crown at the soil line, and put the native soil back in. Soak the seed for 24 hours in water poured over it at 180 to 200 degrees as it cools. Then chill it damp in the refrigerator for 60 to 90 days before sowing. Water weekly through the first summer if rain is short. Some wild stands are browsed hard by deer, so cage young plants where deer are many. It sprouts back after mowing or fire, so an old, leggy plant can be cut back hard in late winter. Each flower carries both male and female parts, so there are no male and female plants to pair. The capsules burst when ripe and throw their seed, so tie a cloth bag over a cluster in late summer if you want to collect it. ## Sources - [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Ceanothus herbaceus](https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=295794) - [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Ceanothus herbaceus](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CEHE) - [Flora of North America, vol. 12: Ceanothus herbaceus, inland Jersey tea](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242416249) - [Go Botany, Native Plant Trust: Ceanothus herbaceus](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/ceanothus/herbaceus/) - [NatureServe Explorer: Ceanothus herbaceus, Prairie Redroot](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.155450/Ceanothus_herbaceus) - [Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board: Checklist of Endangered and Threatened Animals and Plants of Illinois, 2025 revision](https://dnr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/dnr/espb/documents/et-list-review-and-revision/2025-illinois-list-revision/2025-e-t-checklist.pdf) - [Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Nature Preserves: Endangered, Threatened and Rare Vascular Plants of Indiana](https://www.in.gov/dnr/nature-preserves/files/np-etrplants.pdf) - [Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves: Kentucky Rare Plant List, September 30, 2022](https://eec.ky.gov/Nature-Preserves/biodiversity/Documents/2022%20Kentucky%20Rare%20Plant%20List%202.pdf) - [Ohio Department of Natural Resources: Rare Native Ohio Plants, 2024-25 Status List](https://dam.assets.ohio.gov/image/upload/odnr/natural-areas/2024-25_Ohio_Rare_Native_Plants_Status_List_FINAL_draft.pdf) - [New York Natural Heritage Program: status list](https://guides.nynhp.org/status/?scientific_name=Ceanothus+herbaceus) - [West Virginia Division of Natural Resources: Rare Plants tracked by the West Virginia Natural Heritage Program, 4 August 2020](http://wvdnr.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/RTE_Plants.pdf) - [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Ceanothus herbaceus](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/CEHE) - [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Ceanothus chapter](https://rngr.net/publications/wpsm/genera/c/at_download/file) ## Read before planting - [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md) - [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md) - [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md) - [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md) - [Invasive vines and shrubs are what is killing your woods](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/invasive-vines-and-shrubs/index.html.md) - [Native trees and shrubs for butterflies and moths: host plants first, nectar second](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-butterflies-and-moths/index.html.md) ## Related - [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Prairie Redroot, add ?species=prairie-redroot with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=prairie-redroot&zone=4&sun=part&moisture=average. - [Companion species for Prairie Redroot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=prairie-redroot): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard. - [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=prairie-redroot - [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Prairie Redroot is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=prairie-redroot - [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Prairie Redroot needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=prairie-redroot:1 - [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Prairie Redroot flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.