Amsonia salicifolia Pursh. Common name: Gattinger's Bluestar. Habitat: Rich forests, rocky forests, riverside scours. Distribution: IL, MO, and se. KS south to (?) ne. TX, and apparently disjunct in the Interior Low Plateau of sc. KY, c. TN (Chester, Wofford, & Kral 1997), and in n. GA.
Origin/Endemic status: Endemic
Synonymy ⓘ: = S; = Amsonia tabernaemontana Walter var. gattingeri Woodson — Tn; = Amsonia tabernaemontana Walter var. salicifolia (Pursh) Woodson — FNA14, Il, Mo2, RAB, Tx, Williams (2019a), Woodson (1938); < Amsonia tabernaemontana Walter — C, GrPl, GW2, NcTx, Ok, W; > Amsonia tabernaemontana Walter var. gattingeri Woodson — F, Woodson (1928); > Amsonia tabernaemontana Walter var. salicifolia (Pursh) Woodson — F, Woodson (1928)
Links to other floras: = Amsonia tabernaemontana var. salicifolia - FNA14
Wetland Indicator Status:
- Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FACW (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
- Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FAC (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
- Great Plains: FACW (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
- Midwest: FACW (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
- Northcentral & Northeast: FACW (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
Heliophily ⓘ: 5
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Horticultural Information
Intro: Slender, erect perennial found in floodplain forests and moist, rich slope forests.
Stems: Stems one to several from a single root crown, unbranched, smooth.
Leaves: Leaves alternate, occurring all the way up the stem, short-petiolate, narrowly oval to lance-shaped, 2.5-5 in. long, smooth.
Inforescence:
Flowers: Flowers in a terminal, pyramidal panicle; powder-blue, 3/4 in. wide, star-shaped, consisting of a ¼-in.-long tube topped with white hairs that splits into 5 spreading, narrow, blunt-tipped corolla lobes and a short calyx with triangular lobes.
Fruits: Fruit a pair of erect, green, slender follicles.
Comments: Leaves turn golden-yellow in fall.
Height: 1-3 ft.
plant sale text:
bloom table text:
description: Slender, erect perennial found in floodplain forests and moist, rich slope forests.
stems: Stems one to several from a single root crown, unbranched, smooth.
leaves: Leaves alternate, occurring all the way up the stem, short-petiolate, narrowly oval to lance-shaped, 2.5-5 in. long, smooth.
inflorescence:
flowers: Flowers in a terminal, pyramidal panicle; powder-blue, 3/4 in. wide, star-shaped, consisting of a ¼-in.-long tube topped with white hairs that splits into 5 spreading, narrow, blunt-tipped corolla lobes and a short calyx with triangular lobes.
fruits: Fruit a pair of erect, green, slender follicles.
comments: Leaves turn golden-yellow in fall.
cultural notes:
germination code:
native range: central & eastern U.S.