Tiny bluets from Michael, SC

Posted on |

This was the best photo I could get. For scale flowers are 5 mm. It’s currently on a fulls sun, drier site with clay soils. I thought it was Houstonia but not sure.

 

Michael,

you are correct – it is a Houstonia.  Nice picture! I would call it Houstonia pusilla, a common annual in disturbed areas in the early spring.  There are two other, less likely, possibilities: Houstonia micrantha and Houstonia rosea.  I would say the flowers are too large to be H. micrantha.  Also, the flower color for those latter two species is mostly white to pale pink.  The calyx lobes seem a bit long for H. pusilla – but that may be variable.

Sincerely,

Steve Hill SCNPS

Comments are closed.