large-flowered blue-eyed Mary (giant blue eyed Mary)
Plantaginaceae (Mare's-tail family)
(Previously in Scrophulariaceae)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Annual herb from a taproot; stems erect, 5-40 cm tall, simple or branched, nearly smooth below, glandular-hairy above.
Leaves:
Opposite, oblong to lanceolate, 1-4 cm long, minutely toothed to entire, nearly smooth, the lower leaves on 5- to 10 mm-long stalks, the middle and upper leaves unstalked or nearly so, becoming bract-like, smaller and linear in the inflorescence.
Flowers:
Inflorescence an open, terminal cluster of short-stalked flowers, (1) 3 to 7 per node, whorled in the axils of leaflike bracts, the stalks smooth to minutely hairy or glandular-hairy; corollas 7-17 mm long, the tube abruptly bent near the base at a right angle to the calyx and short-pouched at the bend, 2-lipped, the upper lip 2-lobed, blue to purple, pale at the centre, the lower lip 3-lobed, deep blue-violet; calyces 4-8 mm long, 5-lobed, the lobes awl-shaped, 2-5 mm long; stamens 4.
Fruits:
Capsules, 4-5 mm long; seeds usually 4, round-oblong, smooth, reddish-brown.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Ecology
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
678 | 90 | 1008 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
33 | 0 | 90 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
216 | 45 | 360 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
2 | 0 | 5 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
C | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
17 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
IDF | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
BG(1), CWH(1), ICH(1), IDF(8), PP(5) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
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Habitat and Range
Vernally moist to dry grassy slopes, mossy rock outcrops and forest edges in the lowland and montane zones; frequent in S BC in and west of the Coast-Cascade Mountains, infrequent N along the coast to 54degreeN; S to UT and CA.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Antirrhinum tenellum Pursh
Collinsia grandiflora var. pusilla A. Gray
Collinsia parviflora var. grandiflora (Lindl.) Ganders & Krause
Collinsia tenella (Pursh) Piper
Taxonomic Keys
1. Corolla 4-7 (10) mm, the tube bent at an oblique angle to the calyx, strongly pouched at the bend; widespread in vernally mesic habitats in w N Am...........................Collinsia parviflora Lindl.
1. Corolla 9-17 mm, the tube bent at about a right angle to the calyx, short-pouched at the bend; open places at middle and lower elevations W Cas, and in CRG.......................Collinsia grandiflora Lindl. Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia and Flora of the Pacific Northwest. |
Taxonomic Notes
Blue-eyed Marys as a group have extra-floral nectaries (packets of nectar) that occur outside the flower, sometimes on the leaves.
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