Virginia Bluebell

Virginia Bluebell
Virginia Bluebell
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: (unplaced)
Family: Boraginaceae
Genus: Mertensia
Species: M. virginica
Binomial name
Mertensia virginica
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The Virginia Bluebell (Mertensia virginica; also Virginia Cowslip, Lungwort Oysterleaf, Roanoke Bells) is a spring ephemeral plant with bell-shaped sky-blue flowers opening from pink buds, native to moist woodland in eastern North America.

Leaves are rounded and gray-green, borne on a stem up to 60 cm (2 ft) high. They are petiolate at the bottom of the flower stem and sessile at the top.

Flowers with five petals fused into a tube, five stamens, and a central pistil (carpel) are borne in mid-spring in nodding cymes at the end of arched stems. Buds are pink-tinged, changing to sky-blue as they open. White flowers occur rarely.

Stamen and pistil are spaced too far apart for self-fertilization. The flower can be pollinated by bumblebees, but due to its funnel shape, bumblebees must hover, making the bumblebee a rare pollinator. Butterflies are the most common pollinators, because they can easily perch on the edges and still enjoy the nectar.

In early summer, each fertilized flower produces four seeds within wrinkled nuts, and the plant goes dormant till the next spring.

Plants are hardy to hardiness zone 3 (-40°C, -40°F).

Gallery

  • foliage before bloom

  • flower buds

  • seeds

  • flowers at Dahlem, Berlin botanical gardens

External links


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Virginia bluebell — virgininė mertensija statusas T sritis vardynas apibrėžtis Agurklinių šeimos dekoratyvinis, vaistinis augalas (Mertensia virginica), paplitęs Šiaurės Amerikoje. atitikmenys: lot. Mertensia virginica angl. bluebells; Virginia bluebell; Virginia… …   Lithuanian dictionary (lietuvių žodynas)

  • Virginia bluebell — noun smooth erect herb of eastern North America having entire leaves and showy blue flowers that are pink in bud • Syn: ↑Virginia cowslip, ↑Mertensia virginica • Hypernyms: ↑herb, ↑herbaceous plant • Member Holonyms: ↑Mertensia, ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

  • bluebell — [blo͞o′bel΄] n. any of various plants (esp. of the genera Campanula and Mertensia of the bellflower and borage families) with blue, bell shaped flowers, as the harebell or Virginia bluebell …   English World dictionary

  • Virginia cowslip — ☆ Virginia cowslip or Virginia bluebell n. a perennial woodland plant (Mertensia virginica) of the borage family, native to E North America and having clusters of blue or purple, bell shaped flowers …   English World dictionary

  • bluebell — (Roget s IV) n. Syn. harebell, bluebell of Scotland, campanula, bellflower, Virginia bluebell; see also flower 2 …   English dictionary for students

  • Virginia cowslip — virgininė mertensija statusas T sritis vardynas apibrėžtis Agurklinių šeimos dekoratyvinis, vaistinis augalas (Mertensia virginica), paplitęs Šiaurės Amerikoje. atitikmenys: lot. Mertensia virginica angl. bluebells; Virginia bluebell; Virginia… …   Lithuanian dictionary (lietuvių žodynas)

  • Virginia cowslip — noun smooth erect herb of eastern North America having entire leaves and showy blue flowers that are pink in bud • Syn: ↑Virginia bluebell, ↑Mertensia virginica • Hypernyms: ↑herb, ↑herbaceous plant • Member Holonyms: ↑Mertensia, ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

  • Virginia bluebells — noun plural Etymology: Virginia, state of the United States Date: circa 1922 bluebell 2b …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • bluebell — noun Date: 1578 1. any of various bellflowers; especially harebell 2. any of various plants bearing blue bell shaped flowers: as a. a European herb (Hyacinthoides nonscripta syn. Scilla nonscripta) of the lily family having scapose racemes of… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Virginiabluebell — Virginia bluebell n. See Virginia cowslip. * * * …   Universalium

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