Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Manyflowered Stoneseed
Lithospermum multiflorum
Borage family (Boraginaceae)

Bright yellow tubular flowers, narrow, slightly leaves; and a clumpy growth pattern characterize Lithospermum multiflorum. Stems lean outward in all directions. Flowers overall are larger, have a larger tube, and have a more open than those of Lithospermum ruderale. "Litho," is Greek for "stone" and "spermum" for "seed." Stoneseeds are also commonly known as "Puccoons."


©2005 Robert Sivinski

Description

plants from a thick woody root containing a purple dye. Stems to 2' tall, in masses, hairy. Leaves 1 to 2+", or , hairy, becoming smaller upward on the stem. Flowers in on drooping branches. yellow or orange yellow, tubular funnel in shape, the tube to 1/2" long, short, about 1/12" long, rounded. a .

Field Marks

Cluster of a dozen stems upright and leaning, light green, with horizontal leaves and numerous clusters of tubular yellow flowers.

© Al Schneider

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.

lobe -- A rounded parts of a leaf (or other organ).

corolla -- The name for all the petals of a flower taken together.

throat -- The opening of a flower.

a small nut. A nut being a hard, dry fruit containing only one seed that does not open at maturity.

Like the teeth on a saw, leaves and other surfaces can have toothed edges.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

A raceme is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along its axis.

lanceolate -- Lance-shaped. Long, wider in the middle.

linear -- Long and very narrow like a blade of grass.