Bluets

(Houstonia caerulea)

 

   

 

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.

 

Bluets (Houstonia caerulea L.)

Identification: Flowers light blue, light violet, or white with a long, thin tubular corolla, 4 free petal lobes, and a yellow center. Stamens and pistil concealed inside the corolla. Flowers solitary or in pairs on the stem. Several stems usually arising from a single base. Leaves elongate, ovate, in opposite pairs, without a distinct petiole.A distinct rosette of leaves at base of plant. Plant 2 to 8 inches in height.

Distribution: Wisconsin to Nova Scotia, southward to Georgia and Louisiana.

Habitat: Bluets are found in a variety of semi-disturbed habitats such as fields, grasslands, roadsides, and forest margins.

Flowering period: April to July.

Similar Species: Thyme-leaved Bluets are similar. However the leaves are round with distinct petioles, and almost all of them concentrated in a basal rosette and along prostrate runners.

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