Bluecurls

(Trichostema dichotomum)

 

Color Photograph: Copyright Nearctica.com, Inc.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Bluecurls (Trichostema dichotomum)

Identification: Flowers blue to violet-blue, large for the family. Stamens long, grouped together and curled upward and then downward like a big hook. Flower with 4 petals at the top and a downward hanging, rectangular petal spotted or striped with darker blue. Nutlets in groups of four in the expanded calyx. Flowers solitary, arranged on branched stems. Stem square. Stem and leaves sticky. Leaves elongate, outer margin untoothed. Plant 4 to 30 inches in height.

Distribution: Iowa in the west to Maine in the east, southward to Florida and Texas.

Habitat: Bluecurls are found in dry woods and fields.

Flowering period: July to October.

Bluecurls (Trichostema dichotomum)

Similar Species:

The flowers, sticky foliage, and untoothed leaves are highly distinctive.

Similar Species

No Similar Species