tall bluebells

(Mertensia paniculata var. paniculata)

Conservation Status

 

No image available

 
  IUCN Red List

not listed

     
  NatureServe

NNR - Unranked

SNR - Unranked

     
  Minnesota

not listed

     
           
Wetland Indicator Status
     
  Great Plains

FAC - Facultative

     
  Midwest

FAC - Facultative

     
  Northcentral & Northeast

FAC - Facultative

     
           
 
Description
 
 

Tall bluebells 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 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 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.

 
     
 

Height

 
 

12 to 40

 
     
 

Flower Color

 
 

Blue

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
 

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.

 
     
 
Habitat
 
 

Moist. Woods.

 
     
 
Ecology
 
 

Flowering

 
 

June to July

 
     
 

Pests and Diseases

 
 

 

 
     
 
Use
 
 

 

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 28, 29, 30.

 
  4/22/2023      
         
 

Nativity

 
 

Native

 
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

 

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
  Kingdom Plantae (green algae and land plants)  
  Subkingdom Viridiplantae (green plants)  
  Infrakingdom Streptophyta (land plants and green algae)  
  Superdivision Embryophyta (land plants)  
  Division Tracheophyta (vascular plants)  
  Subdivision Spermatophytina (seed plants)  
  Class Magnoliopsida (flowering plants)  
  Superorder Asteranae  
 

Order

Boraginales (borages)  
 

Family

Boraginaceae (borage)  
  Subfamily Cynoglossoideae  
  Tribe Asperugeae  
 

Genus

Mertensia (bluebell)  
  Section Mertensia  
  Species Mertensia paniculata (tall bluebell)  
       
 

Subordinate Taxa

 
 

 

 
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

Mertensia palmeri

Mertensia pilosa

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

northern bluebells

northern lungwort

tall bluebells

tall mertensia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Bract

Modified leaf at the base of a flower stalk, flower cluster, or inflorescence.

 

Caudex

A short, thickened, woody, persistent enlargement of the stem, at or below ground level, used for water storage.

 

Corolla

A collective name for all of the petals of a flower.

 

Limb

In flowers, the expanded portion of a petal, or the expanded part of a corolla, above the throat.

 

Rhizome

A horizontal, usually underground stem. It serves as a reproductive structure, producing roots below and shoots above at the nodes.

 

Winged leaf stalk

A leaf stalk with a leaf-like or membrane-like extension along both sides.

 
 
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