This succulent, introduced perennial plant grows to about 3 feet tall, with large, smooth leaves alternating on an erect stem (B). The trumpet-shaped flowers, first purple, then light blue when open, form nodding clusters at the end of the stems (C). The flowers are short-lived. When the clusters of leaves first emerge in April, they are purplish-green (D), then green, showing the flower buds (F). By mid-May many of the flowers have already gone to seed (E).
Spreading in woodlands where planted, flowering in April and May. In Fontenelle Forest, locally common in the moist middle and upper parts of Mormon Hollow. This showy plant had been planted or escaped from cultivation during the past 15 years. So far it is confined to Mormon Hollow.
Other common names include Bluebells and Virginia Cowslip.
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