many-flowered stickseed (manyflower stickseed; many-flowered hackelia)
Boraginaceae (Borage family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Biennial or short-lived perennial herb from a taproot; stems single to few, spreading long-hairy on lower part, appressed, upswept, straight-hairy above, 0.3-1 m tall.
Leaves:
Basal leaves sometimes persistent but usually smaller than stem leaves and soon withering, oblanceolate, stalked; stem leaves ample, 4-20 cm long and 5-30 mm wide, the lower oblanceolate and stalked, the upper more lanceolate or lance-elliptic and unstalked, reduced upward, appressed straight-hairy or coarsely stiff-hairy, entire, alternate.
Flowers:
Inflorescence of several narrow, elongating, many-flowered clusters with leafy bracts at the base; petals blue, fused at base into a short,narrow tube that spreads (4-8 mm wide) at top to 5 lobes, with 5 minutely pimply, yellow bulges at the throat.
Fruits:
Nutlets 4, clustered together, 2-4 mm long, with marginal, barb-tipped prickles mostly free (but sometimes fused) to near base, facial prickles 0-3.
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) |
1481 | 385 | 2268 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
36 | 0 | 70 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
138 | 94 | 335 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
3 | 1 | 5 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
D | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
12 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
ESSF | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
ESSF(7), IDF(1), MS(2), SBS(1) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Moist to mesic rocky slopes, grasslands and shrublands in the lowland and steppe zones; frequent in S BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains; E to W ON and S to CA and NM.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Hackelia leptophylla (Rydb.) I.M. Johnst.
Lappula floribunda (Lehm.) Greene
Taxonomic Keys
Key to Hackelia:
1. Flowers 1-3 mm wide; annuals or biennials........................H. deflexa 1. Flowers 4-20 mm wide, biennials or perennials. 2. Flowers white...............................................H. diffusa 2. Flowers blue. 3. Nutlets with marginal prickles only.......................................H. floribunda 3. Nutlets with central (facial) prickles in addtion to marginal ones. 4. Marginal prickles united for at least 1/3 their length, forming a cup..........................H. ciliata 4. Marginal prickles mostly distinct to base, not forming a cup................................H. micrantha Source: Illustrated Flora of British Columbia (Douglas et al.) |