''Collinsia grandiflora'' is a species of flowering plant in the

plantain family Plantaginaceae, the plantain family, is a large, diverse family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as snapdragon and foxglove. It is unrelated to the banana-like fruit also called "plantain." In older cl ...

known by the common names giant blue eyed Mary and large-flowered collinsia. This wildflower is native to western North America from British Columbia to

northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

where it grows in

coniferous Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extant ...

understory and woodland.

Description

This is an erect annual

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

reaching about 35 centimeters in maximum height. It produces a thin stem and narrow leaves and looks grasslike before flowering. It produces a showy inflorescence which is separated into interrupted levels, with each level producing a row of one to several flowers. Each pea-like flower is just over a centimeter wide and bright purple with white upper lips. The fruit is a capsule containing four seeds. The plant is relatively small, but its features are larger than most other ''

Collinsia ''Collinsia'' is a genus of about 20 species of annual flowering plants, consisting of the blue eyed Marys and the Chinese houses. It was traditionally placed in the snapdragon family Scrophulariaceae, but following recent research in molecular ...

'', hence its common names.

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment OF ''Collinsia grandiflora''USDA Plants Profile FOR ''Collinsia grandiflora''''Collinsia grandiflora'' — U.C. Photo gallery
grandiflora Flora of British Columbia Flora of California Flora of Oregon Flora of Washington (state) Flora of the Klamath Mountains Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Flora of the West Coast of the United States Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Plantaginaceae-stub