Tall lungwort

Description

Mertensia paniculata, also known as the tall lungwort, tall bluebells, or northern bluebells, is an herb or dwarf shrub with drooping bright-blue, bell-shaped flowers. It is native to northwestern North America and the Great Lakes. Mertensia paniculata naturally occurs in the temperate zone of North America, and is known to thrive within the boreal forests. Specifically, the northern bluebell can be found in Canada, including southern British Columbia. Within the United States, the plant can be seen in Alaska, as well as the Olympic Mountains, stretching east through Oregon to Idaho and western Montana. According to the PLANTS database, M. paniculata are also spotted as far east as Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Mertensia paniculata thrives in moist wooded or meadow areas. It is a shade-tolerant species and is present in early and late-seral communities. While it is most common in mid-succession, it has been spotted in areas in Alaska and Canada after events such as fire or logging, as an early successional community. The northern bluebell seems to have the ability to grow once more after said events due to sprouting from buried rhizomes or from vegetative parts from the surface. It can also flourish under soil that is mesic, has a low temperature, and has limited nutrient availability. It is a perennial that, according to studies in the Yukon region, is a dominant species with precipitation of 230 mm annually, with an average temperature of −3° Celsius. The months in which the flowers bloom depend on the area in which it originates, but mainly the flowering dates range from May to September. The bisexual flower of M. paniculata has five blue petals making up the corolla, which are commonly pink when young. Sometimes, but rarely, the corolla is white on a mature flower. The shape of the five sepals that form the calyx is linear-lanceolate and cilia are present on the margin of the sepal. The underside of the sepal can range to having either have little to no hairs or having short, stiff hairs close together, with a bristle-like texture. The tube of the northern bluebell is 0.0045–.007 m long, with the anthers measuring about 0.0022–.0033 m in length, and the style as long as or surpassing the length of the corolla. The fruit of the tall lungwort are 1 to 4 small, wrinkled, single-seeded nutlets that are 0.0025–.005 m long, which appear in a cluster.