Small bluebells, a perennial herb of the borage family (Bora- 

 ginaceae), is so called because of its low growth and blue, bell-shaped 

 flowers. The specific name is derived from the Latin pulchellus, a 

 diminutive word for pretty. The name is very appropriate because 

 small bluebells, with its dense clusters of flowers, deep sky-blue at 

 maturity, is one of the most beautiful of western mountain plants. 

 The occurrence of small bluebells is limited to southern British 

 Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and western Montana, except 

 that it extends into extreme northern California (Modoc National 

 Forest) in the variety glauca. It is the common low bluebells of this 

 northwestern area. The altitudinal range varies from 2,000 feet 

 above sea level up to 8,000 feet. The species characteristically grows 

 on mountain slopes, in sandy, clayey, and gravelly loam soils, scat- 

 tered among grasses and weeds, but never growing in pure stands. 



Small bluebells is not so palatable as most of the larger and more 

 leafy species of Mertensia, being only fairly good for sheep and goats 

 and practically worthless for cattle and horses. The plant is of little 

 forage value except perhaps on early spring ranges, where it pro- 

 vides succulent green feed for a brief season. It is one of the early 

 spring flowers, blooming from March to July, so that on many of 

 the higher ranges it blossoms, dries up, and disappears before 

 the grazing season. 



Small bluebells has erect stems, 3 to 8 inches in height, which are 

 smooth and hairless (glabrous) and unbranched but, like spring- 

 beauty (Claytonia], several to many arise from one root. The leaves 

 are alternate, three-fourths of an inch to occasionally 4 inches long, 

 sometimes bluish green, narrow and thickish, glabrous beneath, 

 minutely warty above and rough along the margins. The lower 

 leaves are egg-shaped with the broader end forward, being narrowed 

 at base and short-stalked. The middle and upper leaves are without 

 stalks, somewhat egg-shaped and often half clasping. The azure- 

 blue flowers, borne in close terminal clusters of from 10 to 20, are 

 from three-eighths to three-fourths of an inch long, with a corolla 

 tube from three to four times as long as the outer flower parts (calyx 

 lobes, or sepals). These sepals are united near the base, are oblong 

 lance-shaped, and minutely toothed on the margins. The threadlike 

 stalks (filaments) of the stamens are dilated and as long as the 

 pollen sacs (anthers). The fruit consists of four nutlets, which are 

 gray, finely beset with small, hard dots, and the scar at the base of 

 the calyx where the nutlets are attached is pale and prominent. At 

 maturity the nutlets are enclosed within the greatly enlarged fruiting 

 calyx. The black ? tuberous-thickened roots are shallow-seated and 

 either solitary or in clusters. 



Piper, 1 whose treatment is followed by some other botanists, recog- 

 nizes a variety of this species, M. pulchella glauca^ having more con- 

 spicuously bluish (glaucous) herbage, a greater tendency to tufted- 

 ness (typical M. pulchella has solitary or paired stems from the same 

 root), somewhat narrower leaves, and typically more slender flowers. 

 It probably completely intergrades with the species and has a similar 

 forage status. 



1 Piper, C. V. FLORA OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON. U. S. Natl. Mus., Contrib. U. S 

 Natl. Herbarium 11, 637 pp., illus. 1906. 



