Houstonia longifolia

Houstonia longifolia, commonly known as long-leaved bluet or longleaf summer bluet, is a perennial plant in the family Rubiaceae.[2] It can be found throughout most of the Eastern United States and Canada. It has been reported from every state east of the Mississippi River except Delaware, plus North Dakota, Minnesota, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma, with isolated populations in Kansas and Texas. Also, all Canadian provinces from Quebec to Alberta.[1][3] It prefers upland woods in poor, dry, often sandy soil.[4]

Houstonia longifolia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Rubiaceae
Genus: Houstonia
Species:
H. longifolia
Binomial name
Houstonia longifolia
Synonyms[1]
  • Hedyotis longifolia (Gaertn.) Hook
  • Oldenlandia purpurea var. longifolia (Gaertn.) A.Gray
  • Houstonia purpurea var. longifolia (Gaertn.) A.Gray
  • Chamisme longifolia (Gaertn.) Nieuwl.
  • Hedyotis purpurea var. longifolia (Gaertn.) Fosberg

Description

It has upright stalks of 20 centimetres (8 in) or sometimes taller, rising from a basal rosette of leaves. The stalks are slender and branching, with small white flowers with 4 petals.[5] The basal rosette of leaves withers away before the flowers bloom, and opposite leaves appear at intervals along the stems. Flowers bloom for about a month in late spring and summer. It prefers full or partial shade and dry or mesic conditions.[6]

Varieties

Two varieties are recognized:[1]

References
  1. Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  2. Gaertner, Joseph. 1788 De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum: accedunt seminum centuriae quinque priores cum tabulis Aeneis LXXIX. Stutgardiae, Tubingae 1: 226
  3. Biota of North America Program
  4. Gleason, Henry A.; Cronquist, Arthur (1991). Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada (second ed.). ISBN 978-0893273651.
  5. Denison, Edgar (2017). Missouri Wildflowers (Sixth ed.). Conservation Commission of the State of Missouri. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-887247-59-7.
  6. "Long-Leaved Bluets (Houstonia longifolia)". www.illinoiswildflowers.info.


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