Houstonia caerulea
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photo courtesy Renee Brecht |
Britton & Brown |
| Botanical name: | Houstonia caerulea |
| Common name: | azure bluet |
| Group: | dicot |
| Family: | Rubiaceae |
| Growth type: | forb/herb |
| Duration: | perennial |
| Origin: | native |
| Plant height: | clumps to 4" wide |
| Foliage: | basal rosette, leaves narrowly oval, broader toward tip; upper leaves narrower |
| Flower: | 4 pale blue petals with yellow center, 1 flower per stalk |
| Flowering time: | bloom late April to late May; fruit June |
| Habitat: | moist open, sandy or rocky ground of deciduous woods and shaded edges, meadows, grassy slopes |
| Range in New Jersey: | throughout north Jersey, decreasing southward through the Inner Coastal Plain to Cumberland County. |
| Heritage ranking, if any: | n/a |
| Distribution: |  |
| Misc. | pollinated by small bee flies and native bees James Percival, a New England poet, wrote a poem "To The Hostonia Cerulea" "How often, modest flower, I mark thy tender blossoms, where they spread, Along the turfy slope, their starry bed, Hung heavy with the shower." and notes " A very delicate and humble flower of New England, blossoming early in spring, and often covering large patches of turf with a white or pale blue carpet. The botanical allusions in this piece are repeated, and perhaps it will not be fully relished by those, who have not examined the structure of the flower". |