Mertensia virginica

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Virginia bluebells
Mertensia virginica.bbg.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Boraginales
Family: Boraginaceae
Genus: Mertensia
Species:
M. virginica
Binomial name
Mertensia virginica
(L.) Pers. ex Link, 1829

Mertensia virginica (common names Virginia bluebells, [1] Virginia cowslip, [2] lungwort oysterleaf, Roanoke bells) is a spring ephemeral plant in the Boraginaceae (borage) family with bell-shaped sky-blue flowers, native to eastern North America.

Contents

Description

Virginia bluebells have rounded (ovate) and gray-green leaves, borne on stems up to 24 in (60 cm) tall. The leaves are up to 5 in (13 cm) long, smooth (entire) along their margins, petiolate at the bottom of the flower stem, and sessile at the top. [3]

The inflorescence is a nodding group, or cyme of flowers located at the end of the arched stems. [3] The flower buds are pink, and the opened flowers are usually light blue, but occasionally pink and rarely white. [2] The flowers have 5 shallow lobes fused into a tube at the base of the flower, five stamens, and a central pistil (carpel). [3]

Distribution and habitat

M. virginica is native in the United States from Kansas in the west, to Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia in the south, and to Maine in the northeast. It is native in Canada in Ontario and Quebec. [4] The plant can be found in rich, moist woods and on low, wooded hillsides. They often form large groups. [2]

Ecology

The plant develops very early in the spring and flowers mid-spring. In early summer, each fertilized flower produces four seeds within wrinkled nuts. The plant then goes dormant till the next spring. [3]

The flowers attract long-tongued bees, such as bumblebees, butterflies, moths, skippers, hummingbird moths, flower flies, bee flies, and hummingbirds. [5]

Uses

Virginia bluebells had several uses in traditional Native American medicine, including as a pulmonary aid, tuberculosis treatment, and treatment for whooping cough (Cherokee,) root infusion antidote for treating poison, and root decoction venereal to treat venereal issues (Iroquois.) [6] . Native Americans believed a tonic made from this plant could help heal those who were under-the-weather.

Mertensia virginica is edible, including the flowers. [7]

In cultivation, M. virginica has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. [8]


Nomenclature

Mertensia virginica is the type species for the genus Mertensia and was first described by Linnaeus in 1753 as Pulmonaria virginica. [9] The genus Pulmonaria is today restricted to 19 species in the tribe Boragineae. When Albrecht Wilhelm Roth erected the genus Mertensia in 1797, he named the Virginia bluebell as Mertensia pulmonarioides, apparently unaware that Linnaeus had already named it in his Species Plantarum . Roth's name is a superfluous synonym and has been used in recent literature. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boraginaceae</span> Family of flowering plants

Boraginaceae, the borage or forget-me-notfamily, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, trees and herbs in 146, to 156 genera with a worldwide distribution.

<i>Pulmonaria</i> Genus of flowering plants in the borage family Boraginaceae

Pulmonaria (lungwort) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae, native to Europe and western Asia, with one species east to central Asia. According to various estimates there may be between 10 and 18 species found in the wild.

<i>Symphyotrichum novae-angliae</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to central and eastern North America

Symphyotrichum novae-angliae is a species of flowering plant in the aster family (Asteraceae) native to central and eastern North America. Commonly known as New England aster, hairy Michaelmas-daisy, or Michaelmas daisy, it is a perennial, herbaceous plant usually between 30 and 120 centimeters tall and 60 to 90 cm wide.

<i>Campanula rotundifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Campanula rotundifolia, the harebell, Scottish bluebell, or bluebell of Scotland, is a species of flowering plant in the bellflower family Campanulaceae. This herbaceous perennial is found throughout the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. In Scotland, it is often known simply as bluebell. It is the floral emblem of Sweden where it is known as small bluebell. It produces its violet-blue, bell-shaped flowers in late summer and autumn.

<i>Syringa vulgaris</i> Species of flowering plant

Syringa vulgaris, the lilac or common lilac, is a species of flowering plant in the olive family Oleaceae, native to the Balkan Peninsula, where it grows on rocky hills. Grown for its scented flowers in spring, this large shrub or small tree is widely cultivated and has been naturalized in parts of Europe, Asia and North America. It is not regarded as an aggressive species. It is found in the wild in widely scattered sites, usually in the vicinity of past or present human habitations.

<i>Silene virginica</i> Species of flowering plant

Silene virginica, the fire pink, is a wildflower in the pink family, Caryophyllaceae. It is known for its distinct brilliant red flowers. Each flower is approximately five centimeters in diameter and composed of five notched, brilliant red petals which extend into a long tube. It is a small, short-lived perennial, with lance shaped leaves. Its stems, and the bases of the flowers, are covered in short sticky hairs. Fire pink begins blooming in late spring and continuing throughout the summer. It is sometimes grown in wildflower, shade, and rock gardens.

<i>Sherardia</i> Genus and species of flowering plant

Sherardia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. The genus contains only one species, viz. Sherardia arvensis or (blue) field madder, which is widespread across most of Europe and northern Africa as well as southwest and central Asia and Macaronesia. It is also reportedly naturalized in Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Kerguelen, Ethiopia, Sudan, southern Africa, Mexico, Costa Rica, South America, Bermuda, Cuba, Haiti and much of Canada and the United States.

<i>Mertensia</i> Genus of flowering plants in the borage family Boraginaceae

Mertensia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae. They are perennial herbaceous plants with blue or sometimes white flowers that open from pink-tinged buds. Such a change in flower color is common in Boraginaceae and is caused by an increase of pH in the flower tissue. Mertensia is one of several plants that are commonly called "bluebell". In spite of their common name, the flowers are usually salverform (trumpet-shaped) rather than campanulate (bell-shaped).

<i>Anemonoides quinquefolia</i> Species of flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae

Anemonoides quinquefolia, a flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, is native to North America. It is commonly called wood anemone or windflower, not to be confused with Anemonoides nemorosa, a closely related European species also known by these common names. The specific epithet quinquefolia means "five-leaved", which is a misnomer since each leaf has just three leaflets. A plant typically has a single, small white flower with 5 sepals.

<i>Dicentra cucullaria</i> Species of flowering plants in the poppy family Papaveraceae

Dicentra cucullaria, Dutchman's britches, or Dutchman's breeches, is a perennial herbaceous plant, native to rich woods of eastern North America, with a disjunct population in the Columbia Basin.

<i>Convolvulus arvensis</i> Species of bindweed

Convolvulus arvensis, the field bindweed, is a species of bindweed that is rhizomatous and is in the morning glory family (Convolvulaceae), native to Europe and Asia. It is a climbing or creeping herbaceous perennial plant with stems growing to 0.5–2 metres in length, usually found at ground level, with small, white and pink flowers.

<i>Pulmonaria officinalis</i> Species of flowering plant

Pulmonaria officinalis, common names lungwort, common lungwort, Mary's tears or Our Lady's milk drops, is a herbaceous rhizomatous evergreen perennial plant of the genus Pulmonaria, belonging to the family Boraginaceae.

<i>Uvularia grandiflora</i> Species of flowering plant

Uvularia grandiflora, the large-flowered bellwort or merrybells, is a species of flowering plant in the family Colchicaceae, native to eastern and central North America.

<i>Trillium sessile</i> Species of flowering plant

Trillium sessile is a species of flowering plant in the bunchflower family Melanthiaceae. The specific epithet sessile means "attached without a distinct stalk", an apparent reference to its stalkless flower. It is commonly known as toadshade or toad trillium. It is also called sessile trillium or sessile-flowered wake-robin,, however it is not the only member of the genus with a sessile flower.

<i>Geum triflorum</i> Species of flowering plant

Geum triflorum, prairie smoke, three-flowered avens, or old man's whiskers, is a spring-blooming perennial herbaceous plant of North America from northern Canada to California and east to New York. The flowers bloom from mid-spring to early summer.

<i>Lonicera sempervirens</i> Species of honeysuckle

Lonicera sempervirens is a species of honeysuckle vine native to the eastern United States which is known for its reddish flowers.

<i>Equisetum hyemale</i> Species of vascular plant in the horsetail family Equisetaceae

Equisetum hyemale is a perennial herbaceous vascular plant in the horsetail family Equisetaceae. It is a native plant throughout the Holarctic Kingdom, found in North America, Europe, and northern Asia.

<i>Mertensia ciliata</i> Species of flowering plant

Mertensia ciliata is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common names tall fringed bluebells, mountain bluebells, and streamside bluebells.

<i>Agave virginica</i> Species of flowering plant

Agave virginica, synonym Manfreda virginica, commonly known as the false aloe, rattlesnake master, American aloe, and Virginia agave, is a species of agave. It is native to an area stretching from North Carolina west to Texas in the United States and south to Nuevo León and Tamaulipas in Mexico.

<i>Delphinium elatum</i> Species of plant

Delphinium elatum is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, known by the common name alpine delphinium or candle larkspur. It is native to temperate Asia and Europe, it is an erect herbaceous perennial growing to 1.8 m (5.9 ft), with deeply divided leaves. It produces spikes of blue or purple flowers in summer.

References

  1. USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Mertensia virginica". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Denison, Edgar (2017). Missouri Wildflowers. Conservation Commission of the State of Missouri. p. 80. ISBN   978-1-887247-59-7.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica)". www.illinoiswildflowers.info.
  4. "NatureServe Explorer 2.0". explorer.natureserve.org.
  5. "Virginia Bluebells, Mertensia virginica". Wisconsin Horticulture.
  6. "BRIT - Native American Ethnobotany Database". naeb.brit.org. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
  7. "Virginia Bluebells". Forager Chef. 2021-04-17. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
  8. "AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 64. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  9. Carl von Linné (Linnaeus). 1753. Species Plantarum 1:135. (see External links below)
  10. James S. Pringle. 2004. "Nomenclature of the Virginia-bluebell, Mertensia virginica (Boraginaceae)". SIDA, contributions to botany 21(2):771-775.(see External links below)