BERBERIDACEAE -- Barberry Family - New Mexico Flores

Scientific Name:
Lithospermum multiflorum
Size:
25 - 60 cm
BORAGINACEAE -- Borage Family
Description:
Erect perennial herb, stems several, clumped,
with spreading hairs and stiff hairs lying flat.
Leaves alternate, none basal, lowest scale-like,
those above linear to narrowly lanceolate, 2 - 6
cm long, 2 - 15 mm wide, sessile, with stiff
hairs lying flat above, more spreading below.
Flowers perfect, on short stalks, clustered at
stem end, sometimes drooping. Calyx 4 - 6 mm
long, deeply cleft into 5 narrow, hairy segments.
Corolla tubular funnel-shaped, 9 - 15 mm long,
flared at the end, with 5 rounded, smooth-edged
lobes. Stamens 5, short. Style 1, sometimes
long, sometimes short. Fruit of 4 pale, shiny
hard nutlets.
139
Common Name:
Wayside gromwell, puccoon
Color:
Yellow
Notes:
The tiny scale-like lower leaves and the roots of
this plant contain a reddish-purple dye, which
gives rise to the common name puccoon (see
Lithospermum incisum). The term gromwell is
of English origin and is a generic term for
members of the genus Lithospermum. The
flowers of wayside gromwell are of two types,
one with stamens mounted low in the floral tube
and a style greatly exceeding the stamens, the
other with stamens mounted high in the floral
tube and a short style well below the stamens.
This guarantees cross-pollination. Wayside
gromwell blooms from June into August
between 6000 and 8500 ft.
New Mexico Native