SCROPHULARIACEAE FIGWORT FAMILY 
BLUE-EYED MARY 
Collinsia verna Nutt. 
Blue-eyed Mary is one of the most beautiful and in some 
places one of the most abundant of all our spring flowers. It is 
found in moist woods and thickets from western New York and 
Ontario to Wisconsin, south to 
Pennsylvania, Kentucky and WA 5 
Kansas, but occurs only locally y 
} 
in this state at least. na >> 
_ This is a biennial or annual Cae Se 
and its rather weak, slender be 
stems are 6-24 inches long. The 
leaves are thin, the lower pe- 
tioled, those along the middle 
sessile and toothed, and the () 
upper ones narrow and usually 
entire. PN) 
The long-peduncled flowers, \ 
blooming from April to June, 
are both axillary and terminal, yas 
about 6 in a whorl. They are ( 
about one-half inch long and 
more than twice exceed the | 
bell-shaped 5-lobed calyx. The 
corolla has a short tube and 2 | 
lips, of which the upper is Y, 
2-cleft and white, whereas the 
lower is 3-lobed and blue or 
rarely purple. There are 4 
stamens, in pairs, and the 
pistil has a long threadlike 
style. The fruit is a globose capsule, practically one-quarter inch 
in diameter and shorter than the calyx lobes, which contains a 
relatively small number of rather large seeds. Many flowers and 
fruits are produced on each plant so that the total number of 
seeds may be very large. 
The Violet or Narrow-leaved Collinsia, Collinsia violacea Nutt., 
is a quite similar species found in rich soil from southern IIlinois to 
Arkansas, Kansas and Texas. Its upper leaves are lanceolate and the 
corolla is violet. The globose capsule is shorter than the lanceolate 
acute lobes of the 5-parted bell-shaped calyx. 
303 
€ 
