W126 



BLUEBELLS 



Merten'sia spp. 



Bluebells, sometimes called lungworts and languid-ladies, are well- 

 known perennial herbs of the borage family. They are natives of 

 the Northern Hemisphere, ranging from the shores of the Arctic 

 southward, in North America, to Alabama, New Mexico, and Cali- 

 fornia. The genus is best developed in the Far West, where between 

 35 and 65 species occur, depending on the opinion of the individual 

 botanist. These plants grow in moist, usually rich soils, in prairies, 

 meadows, parks, along streams, and in scattered timber in the moun- 

 tains, generally in partial shade. Some valley and foothill species 

 blossom in the spring, while the higher mountain species bloom 

 during the summer months. The name Mertensia is in honor of 

 Franz Karl Mertens (1764-1831), a German botanist. 



Some species of bluebells are sparsely distributed; others grow in 

 large clumps, especially in mountain meadows, and often on old 

 bedgrounds and burns. The larger species are choice sheep feed 

 and, because of their succulence, are particularly valuable for grow- 

 ing lambs and flushing ewes. Bluebells are good feed for cattle 

 in some localities, but in most regions these plants have little value 

 for that class of livestock. Horses rarely eat these plants. The 

 natural tendency of sheep, and to some extent cattle, is to graze the 

 more important species of bluebells so intensively that new plants 

 are produced chiefly from the strong rootstocks. If reproduction 

 by seed is prevented for an extended period by overutilization, the 

 plants will decrease appreciably and may ultimately disappear. 



These herbs have stems 4 to 60 inches high, produced from stout, 

 thickened roots or rootstocks, and in some species the roots are 

 rather tuberlike ; their herbage is usually smooth, sometimes with a 

 few fine hairs, and is often beset with a bluish waxen bloom as 

 occurs on a cabbage leaf or the skin of a plum. The leaves are 

 alternate, without teeth or indentations. The somewhat bell-like, 

 blue or purple (rarely white), nodding, mostly bractless flowers are 

 borne in showy terminal clusters and are five-lobed at the end; the 

 floral cup (calyx) at the base of the flower is deeply five-cleft and 

 persists in fruit. The fruit consists of four small "seeds" (nutlets), 

 wrinkled at maturity, and attached obliquely near their bases to a 

 somewhat convex or flattened receptacle, the scar of attachment 

 being small and inconspicuous. Bluebells are sometimes confused 

 with pentstemons, but are readily distinguishable from the latter by 

 their alternate leaves and regular, bell-mouthed flowers, as opposed 

 to the opposite leaves and two-lipped flowers of the pentstemons. 



