Mertensia ciliata (James ex Torrey) G. Don 



Boraginaceae 

 Mountain bluebells 



A. Description 



1. General description: Herbaceous perennial, 4-15 dm (15.7- 

 59 in) tall and robust, with multiple stems from a woody 

 caudex. The leaves are up to 15 cm (5.9 in) long, and with 

 evident laterial veins on the stem leaves. The blue corolla 

 is 5-parted, with a distinct tube and slightly flared limb, 

 the total corolla length is usually 1-1.5 cm (.4-. 59 in) long 

 (from Hitchcock et al. 1984, Great Plains Flora Association 

 1986) . 



2. Technical description: Stems numerous from a branched, 

 woody caudex, 4-15 dm tall; herbage glabrous, or the leaves 

 often strigose, especially beneath; leaves more or less 

 evidently veined, the basal ones petiolate; cauline leaves 

 well developed and only gradually reduced upward, the blade 

 narrowly elliptic or lance-elliptic to rather narrowly ovate, 

 3-15 cm long, 1-5 cm wide, , generally tapering to the base, or 

 the lower sometimes more rounded, only the lower evidently 

 petiolate; inflorescence branched and open in well-developed 

 plants; calyx 1-3 mm long, cleft nearly or mostly 0.8-1-2(1.5) 

 times as long as the tube, the tube with, or more often 

 without, a fringe of hairs and conspicuous, 1.5-3 mm long; 

 anthers 1.2-2.2 mm log, typically a little under 2 mm.; styles 

 elongate, often shortly exserted from the corolla (from 

 Hitchcock et al. 1984). 



3. Diagnostic characteristics: Mertensia ciliata is a much 

 taller plant than M. lanceolata and M. oblongif olia , the other 

 two species of bluebells in the area, growing 4-15 dm (15.7-59 

 in) at maturity vs. less than 4 dm. It has distinctly veined 

 stem leaves vs. no prominent lateral veins (from Van Bruggen 

 1985) . 



B. Present legal or other formal status 



1. Federal 



A. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service: none 



B. U.S. Forest Service: none 



C. Bureau of Land Management: none 



2. State: In South Dakota, the state rank is "SI" 

 (critically imperiled) because there are fewer than five 

 records and efforts to relocate some of these were 

 unsuccessful. 



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