BLUETS. STAR-VIOLET 



Houstonia minima Beck 



Early spring On the diy uplands, on those rolling, gravelly hills where 

 Open hills poverty grass denotes a kindred poverty of the soil, the 



rare little hluets blossom in April. Although other bluets 

 (Houstonia coerulea) sometimes are found in northern Illinois and even 

 more commonly northward and eastward, this is the little southwestern 

 species which, further south in Missouri, covers sunny hills and pastures 

 with millions of tiny bright flowers. They are so abundant that the ground 

 is blue with beds of minute and beautiful blossoms. 



We have two very similar Houstonias, very small, both with deep 

 purple flowers, both called "star-violets", and both are winter annuals. 

 They are Houstonia minima and Houstonia pusilJa. The fonner has the 

 longer calyx and grows on very dry ground. The j\Iuseum has collections 

 from several counties, mostly in the south and as far north as Eock 

 Island. The long-leaved houstonia (Houstonia longifolia) often reaches 

 a foot in height, has a many-branched, wiry stem, and small white flowers 

 with pointed, oval petals, and a tube which is longer than the petals. It 

 is found commonly in rocky or gravelly woods in late spring, and often 

 continues to bloom throughout the sununer. 



Bluets are among the most delicate and channing of the spring 

 ilowers in any part of the country. The plant is only one to three inches 

 tall with tiny, bright green, oval leaves placed opposite each other on the 

 thready, weak stems. One flower grows at the tip of each stem ; sometimes 

 the stalk forks near the base, but usually it is straight, simple, and one- 

 llowered. The exquisite blossom, a quarter-inch wide, is four-parted and 

 tubular, the tube in this species no longer than the four spreading petals. 

 The flower is bright blue-lavender, clear blue. pur])l(\ white, or pale pink, 

 the center marked with four ]uir]ilo-rose flnts. 



