Mertensia paniculata var. paniculata

Native

Moist. Woods.

June to July

Blue

12″ to 40″

This is a 12″ to 40″ tall, erect, perennial forb that rises on usually multiple stems from a fibrous caudex or stout rhizome. It is often found in clumps. It is not colonial.

The stems are fragile, fleshy, leafy, hairless or sparsely hairy, and branching near the top.

Leaves are hairy on both sides. Basal leaves, when present, are heart-shaped to egg-shaped, 2″ to 8″ long, 1″ to 4″ wide, and taper at the base to a 6″ to 12″ long, winged leaf stalk. They are distinctly veined. Stem leaves are numerous, on shorter stalks, alternate, thin, lance-shaped to egg-shaped, with pointed tips. Lower stem leaves are 2″ to 5½″ long, and ⅔″ to 2¾″ wide, becoming gradually smaller as they ascend the stem. The uppermost leaves are greatly reduced in size and are attached to the stem without a leaf stalk. The margins are untoothed.

The inflorescence is is a small, branched cluster at the end of the stems. The cluster is on a hairy stalk.

The flowers are trumpet-shaped, downward hanging, and ⅓″ to ½″ long. There are 5 petals that are purplish pink when in bud, gradually turning light blue as they unfold. They are fused at the base into a tube that flares outward at the tip with 5 shallow lobes. The expanded portion of the corolla (limb) is 1.2 to 1.6 times as long as the tube. The individual flowers are never subtended with leafy bracts.

The fruit is 0 to 4 wrinkled nutlets per flower.

Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) is a shorter, hairless, often colonial plant with larger, showier flowers. It reaches no more than 26″ in height. The stems and leaves are hairless. Upper stem leaves have rounded tips. The flowers are ¾″ to 1″ long. The corolla tube is longer than the limb.