Mertensia virginica (Linnaeus) Persoon ex Link. Common name: Virginia Bluebells, Virginia Cowslip. Phenology: Mar-May. Habitat: Nutrient-rich, moist, alluvial soils of floodplain forests and thickets, also on rich slopes or bluffs over calcareous rocks. Distribution: NY west to WI, and IA, south to n. NC, nw. GA, AL, and n. AR.
Origin/Endemic status: Native
Taxonomy Comments: Pringle (2004) discussed the nomenclatural reasons for retaining the name M. virginica.
Synonymy ⓘ: = Ar, C, F, G, GrPl, Il, K4, Mi, NE, NY, Pa, RAB, S, Tat, Tn, Va, W, WV, Al-Shehbaz (1991); = Mertensia pulmonarioides Roth
Wetland Indicator Status:
- Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FAC
- Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FACW
- Midwest: FACW
- Northcentral & Northeast: FAC
Heliophily ⓘ: 3
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Horticultural Information
Intro: Erect to ascending perennial found in nutrient-rich, moist, alluvial soils of floodplain forests and thickets.
Stems: Stems branched above, smooth.
Leaves: Leaves alternate, short-petiolate to sessile, oval-elliptic to spoon-shaped, to 2½ in. long (basal ones biggest), gray-green.
Inforescence:
Flowers: Flowers nodding in bractless, coiled racemes terminating the stem and branches; pink in bud, turning blue (occasionally white); funnel-shaped with a distinctly long tube that is densely furry at the base and opens to a shallowly undulate bell with 5 small folds. Anthers and style are prominently visible in the corolla throat.
Fruits: Fruit a small nutlet with wrinkled surface.
Comments: Sometimes colonial and seen in large masses.
Height: 12-28 in.
plant sale text: Virginia bluebells are beautiful woodland ephemerals that produce a stunning show of pink buds and pendulous, blue bell-shaped flowers in the spring. Flowering lasts for approximately three weeks. By mid-summer these plants go dormant until the following year. Virginia bluebells grow best in deep to partial shade and moist well-drained humus and will spread and self-seed under ideal conditions.
bloom table text:
description: Erect to ascending perennial found in nutrient-rich, moist, alluvial soils of floodplain forests and thickets.
stems: Stems branched above, smooth.
leaves: Leaves alternate, short-petiolate to sessile, oval-elliptic to spoon-shaped, to 2½ in. long (basal ones biggest), gray-green.
inflorescence:
flowers: Flowers nodding in bractless, coiled racemes terminating the stem and branches; pink in bud, turning blue (occasionally white); funnel-shaped with a distinctly long tube that is densely furry at the base and opens to a shallowly undulate bell with 5 small folds. Anthers and style are prominently visible in the corolla throat.
fruits: Fruit a small nutlet with wrinkled surface.
comments: Sometimes colonial and seen in large masses.
cultural notes:
germination code:
native range: eastern United States