Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Shortstyle Bluebells
Mertensia brevistyla
Borage family (Boraginaceae)

Mertensia brevistyla, Short-styled Bluebell, is one of our earliest spring flowers, often appearing in the foothills in April. Seen up close, the petals have a glittery appearance, as if they are covered with very minute dewdrops that reflect the light. It can often be seen in a large colony carpeting the oak understory. This and several other species of Mertensia are quite similar and difficult to tell apart. See, for instance, M. lanceolata.


©2017 Adam Schneider

Description

with erect stems, 4-16" tall, herbage covered with short, stiff hair. Leaves, 2-5" long, or elliptical, smooth underneath, dark green, rolled under at the margins. Flowers emanating from the leaf axils and forming a tight cluster, bright blue, with 5 petals at the base, and short that do not rise above the tube. a wrinkled about 1/10" long.

Field Marks

Tight clusters of bright blue flowers on a short plant with hairy leaves.

© Al Schneider

style -- This is a long and thread-like structure that connects the stigma with the ovary. A flower may have a single style, or several of them.

fused means joined together.

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.

A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.

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

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

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

oblong -- Having an elongated form with somewhat parallel sides. Rectangular.