Drummond's bluebell |
Mertensia drummondii |
| Adobe Acrobat PDF File | (Lehm.) G. Don |
| Flowers blue with narrow tube and flaring lobes; sweet scented | |||
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Fruit consists of
Stems single or from a many |
 |
Stem leaves
Basal leaves |
| Basal and stem leaves have distinctive pustulate or tuberculate hairs on the upper surfaces |
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Perennial herb; erect or trailing, sometimes forming clumps up to 50 cm wide
Distribution: Known from the Meade and Kogosukruk rivers in northern
Alaska and in the western Canadian Arctic from southern Victoria Island
and several sites on the mainland near Dolphin and Union Strait.
Habitat: Sparsely vegetated, active sand dunes and blowouts near
rivers, 45
ft. to 250 ft. elevation. Also on sandy banks near the coast in Canada;
not a
seashore species. The Alaskan sites are well back from or above the active
floodplain. Commonly associated species include: Bromus pumpellianus,
Carex obtusata, Festuca rubra, Leymus mollis, Dryas integrifolia,
Eritrichium chammissonis, and Salix brachycarpa.
Similar Species: Unlikely to be confused with any other Alaskan
bluebell,
it is similar in several respects to M. lanceolata (Pursh) Candolle
and M.
viridis A. Nelson of the Rocky Mountains. M. maritima (L.) S.
F. Gray
(found on seashores) has hairless leaves (sometimes with small pustules
or
blister-like growths). Small non-flowering individuals can be confused with
Rumex graminifolius Lamb. (which differs in its glabrous, often hastate,
leaves) or Plantago canescens Adams (which has leaves with non-tubercu-late
hairs).
Notes: Flowering in July; in fruit by late July to August.
References: Cody et al. 1992; Hultén 1968; Komarkova and
Webber 1980;
Lipkin 1995; McJannet et al. 1995; Murray 1981a; Murray and Lipkin
1987; Williams 1940.
Closeup of Mertensia drummondii
photo by Jo Overholt
Mertensia drummondii habitat
photo by Jo Overholt
