small-flowered blue-eyed Mary (maiden blue eyed Mary)
Plantaginaceae (Mare's-tail family)
(Previously in Scrophulariaceae)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Annual herb from a taproot; stems ascending to erect, sometimes sprawling, 5-50 cm tall/long, slender, simple or branched, minutely hairy.
Leaves:
Opposite, smooth or minutely hairy, often purplish beneath, the lower leaves egg- to spoon-shaped, on 5- to 10 mm-long stalks, the middle and upper leaves oblong to linear-lanceolate, 1-4 cm long, entire or nearly so, becoming bract-like, smaller, linear and often whorled in the inflorescence.
Flowers:
Inflorescence an open, terminal cluster of short-stalked flowers, 1 to 5 per node, whorled in the axils of leaflike bracts, the stalks smooth to finely glandular-hairy; corollas 4-8 mm long, the tube abruptly bent near the base at an oblique angle to the calyx and strongly pouched at the bend, 2-lipped, the upper lip 2-lobed, whitish, the lower lip 3-lobed, blue; calyces 3-6 mm long, 5-lobed, the lobes linear-lanceolate; stamens 4.
Fruits:
Capsules, 3-4 mm long; seeds 2 to 4, ellipsoid, smooth, about 2 mm long, with thickened inrolled margins.
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
USDA Species Characteristics
Flower Colour:
Blue
Blooming Period:
Mid Spring
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present from Spring to Summer
Source: The USDA
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) |
943 | 25 | 2330 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
34 | 0 | 120 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
190 | 0 | 360 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
2 | 0 | 6 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
C | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
912 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
IDF | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
AT(11), BG(91), CDF(25), CWH(4), ESSF(44), ICH(66), IDF(361), MS(75), PP(162), SBS(19) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
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Habitat and Range
Vernally moist to dry grassy slopes, mossy rock outcrops, forest glades and open forests in the lowland and montane zones; common throughout BC except NE; N to AK and S YT, E to ON and S to PA, MI, SD, NM, AZ and CA.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Antirrhinum tenellum Pursh
Collinsia grandiflora var. pusilla Gray
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. Some populations of Collinsia parviflora in southern British Columbia are polymorphic for a gene that causes purple-spotted leaves. Read more here.
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