Mertensia longiflora Greene
long-flowered bluebells (long-flowered mertensia; small bluebells)
Boraginaceae (Borage family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
long-flowered bluebells (long-flowered mertensia; small bluebells)
Boraginaceae (Borage family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
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Species Information
General:
Perennial herb from tuberlike, easily detached root; glabrous or straight appressed-hairy; stems usually 1-2, 5-25 cm tall.
Leaves:
Basal leaves rare on flowering plants, if present then stalked, with broadly elliptic, rounded blades; stem leaves few, lowermost strongly reduced, the others well-developed, mostly unstalked, 2-6 cm long and 0.5-3 cm wide, rounded at tip, entire, alternate; lateral veins obscure.
Flowers:
Inflorescence compact, somewhat headlike; corollas tubular funnel-shaped, blue, 15-25 mm long; petals fused at base into a tube that flares slightly at top to the funnel-shaped limb and 5 lobes, the tube 2-3 times as long as the limb, and glabrous within but with 5 bulges at the throat.
Fruits:
Nutlets 4, clustered together, wrinkled.
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
Ecological Framework for Mertensia longiflora
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)
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) |
1021 | 305 | 2074 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
19 | 0 | 50 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
218 | 55 | 340 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
3 | 2 | 5 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
E | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
16 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
PP | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
AT(2), BWBS(2), ICH(1), IDF(4), MS(1), PP(4) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||