Identification
This succulent, introduced perennial plant grows to about 3 feet tall, with large, smooth leaves alternating on an erect stem (B). When the clusters of leaves first emerge in April, they are purplish-green (D), turning green by the time the flower buds appear (E).The trumpet-shaped flowers, first purple, then light blue when open, form nodding clusters at the end of the stems (B,C). The flowers are short-lived. By mid-May many of the flowers have already gone to seed (F).
This plant is native to eastern North America including adjacent states immediately to the east, but is not native to Nebraska. It is thought that a thriving population in Fontenelle Forest’s Mormon Hollow was likely either planted there or escaped from some nearby garden. Marjorie Garabrandt’s detailed list of vascular plants found in FF and NW published in 1988 does not mention it, suggesting it arrived sometime after then. It is now locally common in the moist middle and upper parts of Mormon Hollow, but has not appeared anywhere else at either FF or NW.
Other common names include Bluebells and Virginia Cowslip.
The content of NatureSearch is provided by dedicated volunteer Naturalists of Fontenelle Forest who strive to provide the most accurate information available. Contributors of the images retain their copyrights. The point of contact for this page is: Roland Barth.