Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

BLUE HEARTS

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Buchnera americana L.

Woodson County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 1-3 feet

Family: Scrophulariaceae - Figwort Family

Flowering Period: June, July, August

Stems:

Erect, usually unbranched, bristly hairy.

Leaves:

Opposite, simple, sessile, inclined stiffly upward, lowest egg-shaped, mid and upper lanceolate, 1.2 to 2.4 inches long, .4 to .8 inches wide, progressively reduced above, prominently 3-veined; surfaces rough; margins toothed.

Inflorescences:

Spike, terminal; flowers opposite to alternate; bracts progressively reduced above with small, linear-lanceolate bractlets.

Flowers:

Calyx tubular, sepals partially united, 1/4 to 1/3 inch long; lobes 5, short, about 1/12 inch long, triangular; corolla with lobes spread widely at end of narrow tube, violet to purplish, 3/5 to 1 inch long, soft hairy within; lobes 5, nearly equal, oblong, 1/5 to 2/5 inch long; tips rounded or notched; stamens 4, included in tube; filaments short; anthers narrowly lanceolate; stigma entire, club-shaped.

Fruits:

Capsule, oblong egg-shaped, usually swollen at base on upper surface; seeds numerous, cone-shaped, ribbed.

Habitat:

Dry to moist prairies and pine woods.

Distribution:

East 1/4 of Kansas.

Comments:

The flowers bloom from the base upward. Partially parasitic on the roots of other plants. When dried, the foliage turns blackish. Named after Dr. J. G. Buchner, an 18th century German botanist.

Blue hearts