Mertensia

Mertensia subsp. var.
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Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Mertensia (after Franz Carl Mertens, a German botanist). Boraginaceae. Attractive herbs for colonizing and for borders. Perennials, glabrous or pubescent: lvs. alternate, often having pellucid dots: racemes terminal or the cymes loose, few-fld., 1-sided, sometimes panicled; fls. blue or purplish, rarely white, with funnelform or campanulate corolla that is either crested or unappendaged in the throat, the lobes 5 and similar and not much spreading or the margin nearly entire; calyx 5-cut or 5-parted; stamens attached at the middle of the tube or higher; ovary 4 lobed, the style filiform: frs. 4 erect more or less wrinkled nutlets.—Species probably 40, in the cooler parts of the northern hemisphere, a good part in N. Amer. In recent years, the American species have been much redescribed. They are often very smooth plants, of attractive habit and bright colors. The most popular species is M, virginica, Virginia cowslip, bluebells, and Virginia lungwort. This grows 1-2 ft. high and bears more or less drooping clusters of blue-belled fls. in March to May. The fls. are about 1 in. long, and 20 or more in a terminal group. They have a purple tube and blue bell of distinct shape, the lobes of the corolla being little pronounced. The common mertensia (M. virginica) is one of the plants that should remain undisturbed for years, and hence is suited to the rockery and to margins and ravines. It is unusually good for colonizing in woods. Its leaves die down soon after flowering-time. The plant should have a sheltered position and rich loamy soil. M. sibirica (of gardens) is considered by some even more desirable. The flowers are later, light blue, and not so distinctive in form. The foliage of M. sibirica lasts through the summer. Mertensias may be propagated by seed if sown as soon as ripe, but with uncertainty by division. Although of secondary importance, mertensias add variety to the border and are nearly always attractive to plant-lovers. While Mertensia virginica grows well in full sun, it does almost as well in shady situations. It makes its growth early in the spring before the shade under the trees becomes very dense, and the foliage, which disappears after blooming, seems to ripen as readily hi the shade as in the open. As large masses of this plant are effective, and as the blank left by the disappearing foliage precludes its being grown in the open border, it is fortunate that it will adapt itself to shady places where its yellowing foliage may be somewhat hidden and its absence during the summer be unnoticed. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Mertensia. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Mertensia QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)