Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Lamiids: Boraginales? order assignment uncertain
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Mertensia virginica
FAMILY
Boraginaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Read more about Virginia Bluebells at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Mertensia virginica
FAMILY
Boraginaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Mertensia virginica
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 161-10-001:
Mertensia virginica FAMILY Boraginaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Mertensia virginica
COMMON NAME:
Virginia Bluebells, Virginia Cowslip
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_mevi3_001_lvd
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide pnd_mevi3_009_lvd
)
Ben Geer Keys bgk931_a
March
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_mertensia_virginica_6
March
Calyx 5-parted, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
Ed Pivorun ebp090404_4846
April Walker County GA
The Pocket on Pigeon Mountain
)
JK Marlow jkm0404e_07
April Haywood County NC
Corneille Bryan Native Garden
Leaves pale green, elliptic to obovate or oblanceolate, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm080421_048
April Haywood County NC
Corneille Bryan Native Garden
Style filiform, long, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_mertensia_virginica
April
Terminal clusters of pink buds unfold into porcelain-blue long-necked bells, per Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002).
)
Steve Marlow snm090405_006
April Walker County GA
The Pocket on Pigeon Mountain
Flowers ~ 1" long, tubular, abruptly enlarged into a cup w 5 shallow lobes, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
)
Tim Spira tpsmvirginica
April
The flowers are pink at first, then blue, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
)
Tim Spira tpsmvirginica2
April
)
JK Marlow jkm160502_085
May Macon County NC
Highlands Biological Station
Basal lvs long-petiolate, upper& middle cauline lvs short-petiolate to sessile, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Mertensia virginica
FAMILY
Boraginaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Mertensia virginica
FAMILY
Boraginaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Mertensia virginica
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 161-10-001:
Mertensia virginica
FAMILY
Boraginaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Mertensia virginica
931
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: Nutrient-rich, moist, alluvial soils of floodplain forests and thickets, also on rich slopes or bluffs over calcareous rocks, per Weakley's Flora
Native to North Carolina & Georgia
Rare
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Simple
Basal & alternate
FLOWER:
Spring
Blue
5-parted calyx
5-lobed funnelform or trumpet-shaped corolla
5 stamens, fused to corolla tube
Superior ovary
Bisexual
FRUIT:
Spring/Summer
Schizocarp of specialized mericarps (nutlets)
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p148
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977) p196
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p422
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p077
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition (Justice, Bell, & Lindsey, 2005) p213
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p213
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p136
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