''Mertensia virginica'' (
common names Virginia bluebells, Virginia cowslip,
lungwort oysterleaf, Roanoke bells) is a spring
ephemeral plant
An ephemeral plant is one marked by short life cycles. The word ephemeral means transitory or quickly fading. In regard to plants, it refers to several distinct growth strategies. The first, spring ephemeral, refers to perennial plants that emerge ...
in the
Boraginaceae
Boraginaceae, the borage or forget-me-not family, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, trees and herbs in 146, to 156 genera with a worldwide distribution.
The APG IV system from 2016 classifies the Boraginaceae as single family of the or ...
(borage) family with bell-shaped sky-blue flowers, native to eastern North America.
Description
Virginia bluebells have rounded (ovate) and gray-green leaves, borne on stems up to tall. The leaves are up to long, smooth (entire) along their margins,
petiolate at the bottom of the flower stem, and
sessile
Sessility, or sessile, may refer to:
* Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about
* Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant
* Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...
at the top.
The
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...
is a nodding group, or
cyme of flowers located at the end of the arched stems.
The flower buds are pink, and the opened flowers are usually light blue, but occasionally pink and rarely white.
The flowers have 5 shallow lobes fused into a tube at the base of the flower, five
stamens, and a central pistil (
carpel
Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) '' pistils' ...
).
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. The plant can be found in rich, moist woods and on low, wooded hillsides. They often form large groups.
Ecology
The plant develops very early in the spring and flowers mid-spring. In early summer, each fertilized flower produces four seeds within wrinkled
nut
Nut often refers to:
* Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds
* Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt
Nut or Nuts may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Co ...
s. The plant then goes
dormant till the next spring.
The flowers attract long-tongued bees, such as bumblebees, butterflies, moths, skippers, hummingbird moths, flower flies, bee flies, and hummingbirds.
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.) . 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.
In cultivation, ''M. virginica'' has gained the
Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity.
The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...
's
Award of Garden Merit.
botanical gardens
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
in Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
Mertensia-virginica-pink-2014-05-05-Fox-Chapel-PA.jpg, A pink-flowered form
Bluebell3.jpg, A white-flowered form
Mertensia_virginica_seeds.jpg, Fruits
Mertensia virginica colony in floodplain forest habitat 2.jpg, Woods carpeted in bluebells
Bumblebee hanging from bluebell.jpg, A bumblebee hanging from a bluebell
Nomenclature
''Mertensia virginica'' is the
type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...
for the
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
''Mertensia'' and was first
described by
Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
in 1753 as ''Pulmonaria virginica''.
[Carl von Linné (Linnaeus). 1753. ''Species Plantarum'' 1:135. (see ''External links'' below)] The genus ''Pulmonaria'' is today restricted to 19 species in the
tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...
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
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
.
[James S. Pringle. 2004. "Nomenclature of the Virginia-bluebell, ''Mertensia virginica'' (Boraginaceae)". SIDA, contributions to botany 21(2):771-775.(see ''External links'' below)]
References
External links
Wildflower.org: Native Plant Identification NetworkIllinois Plant Information Network: ''Mertensia virginica''RHS Plant Selector: ''Mertensia virginica''''Pulmonaria''''Species Plantarum'' vol. 1
Botanicus
Nomenclature of the Virginia bluebellVolume 21, View BookSIDA, contributions to botanyBHL
{{Taxonbar, from=Q12901028
virginica
Flora of Eastern Canada
Flora of the Eastern United States