Flower:

Dense, rounded clusters at the tips of new growth. Clusters are about as tall as wide, compound, made up of several smaller stalkless clusters at the tip, and may have an additional smaller, short stalked cluster from the uppermost leaf axil. Flowers are white, ¼ to 3/8 inch across, with 5 spreading spoon-shaped petals alternating with 5 broad, triangular, white sepals that fold in towards the center of the flower. The petal edges fold up giving them a pipe or hatchet like profile. Arising from the fold of each petal is a single stamen, sometimes dark tipped. A single white, 3-parted style is in the center.

Leaves and stems:

Leaves are alternate, oblong to lance-elliptic, ½ to 2¼ inches long and typically 1/3 to half as wide as long, with three central veins, surfaces mostly smooth, the upper often glossy or with few scattered hairs along veins, especially on the underside. The edges have fine, gland-tipped teeth, the glands nothing more than a tiny brown dot at the tip of a tooth. Both the lower woody stems and upper green branches are hairless.

Fruit:

Fruit is a flattened, three part capsule about ¼ inch across, green turning black with maturity.

Notes:

Narrow-leaved New Jersey Tea is a low bushy shrub typically around knee high. The lower stems are persistently woody with the upper herbaceaus branches dying back annually. It is only superficially similar in appearance to New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus) which has broad, oval to egg-shaped leaves that are rounded at the base of the leaf blade and fine hairs throughout making the leaf surfaces dull. Its clusters are larger and elongated with several clusters on long, naked stalks from the upper leaf axils of the seasonal branches, where C. herbaceus clusters are at the end of leafy branches. C. herbaceus also flowers about a month earlier than its broader leaved relative. Both inhabit similar dry or rocky, open habitats but they are rarely found growing in close proximity and C. americanus is more common with a broader range.