The Joyful Botanist: Almost time for bluets
Houstonias have many different and interesting common names, like bluets, innocence, quaker ladies, and Venus’ pride.
Adam Bigelow photo
I don’t know about y’all, but I’m getting excited for the return of wildflowers.
In Southern Appalachia, we’ve had a real winter this season with long, extended cold snaps and a couple of good, region-wide snow and ice storms. Now we’re looking at a few weeks of warmer weather ahead, and in mid-February that means the emergence and bloom of the first of the spring wildflowers.
Dimpled trout-lily (Erythronium umbilicatum) and sharp-lobed liverwort (Hepatica acutiloba) are usually the first two native herbaceous wildflowers to bloom, and with this warm spring-like rain and temperature, I’d not be surprised to see the first flowers of either of these species. I’ve been tracking the first trout-lily to bloom each year up Moses Creek in this one special spot, and the average first blooming is Feb. 14, as if the mountains like to give me flowers for Valentine’s Day. Yes Appalachia, I’ll be yours. Forever.
Some years, it looks like I’m not the only one excited for spring blooms. Sometimes even native wildflowers just can’t wait and will open early. One such species that likes to bloom out of season, sometimes early and sometimes oddly in late-summer or early-fall, you’ll find one or two open flowers of the thyme-leaved bluets (Houstonia serpyllifolia).
Normally, this species of Houstonia blooms in profusion in May and June, often turning the roadsides along the Blue Ridge Parkway into a haze of light blue. Here and there, they’ll get an environmental trigger, and one or two flowers will bud and open early. The picture used for this article was taken on Feb. 28, back in 2022, for instance.
There are 12 species of Houstonia across North Carolina, according to the Vascular Plants of North Carolina online database. Nine of those species can definitely be found growing in the mountains, and of those nine, four species bloom in springtime and the other five are known as summer bluets.
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Bluets are relatively easy to identify while in bloom. For both spring and summer blooming bluets, look for relatively small flowers that have four petals, which is uncommon in the world of flower petals. Most flowers have odd numbers like five, seven, nine or more petals on a flower. Of course, trilliums are so named due to having three petals. Bluets have four, which makes them into the shape of a solar or Celtic cross.
The spring-blooming bluets are usually a shade of blue, hence the name, and have a yellow center or “eye.” The blue shades can range from a deep and dark to light sky-blue depending on how much of a recessive gene for white is being expressed. Rarely, you’ll find larger populations where that recessive gene for white petals gets reinforced, and you’ll see solid white bluet flowers. However, they are not suddenly called “whitelets,” and if you sowed seeds from plants blooming white, the new plants would likely bloom some shade of blue.
Summer-blooming bluets tend to bloom in shades of purple and pink, and the species commonly known as summer bluets mostly have flowers with white petals. This is ironic, as the species name for summer bluets is Houstonia purpurea. And those flowers are far from purple.
Confused yet? I get it; it’s easy to be confused while trying to identify native plants. And sometimes, even the flowers themselves get confused and try to bloom out of season. I don’t blame them. After this long, cold winter, I’m ready to see some flowers blooming too.
(The Joyful Botanist leads weekly wildflower walks most Fridays and offers consultations and private group tours through Bigelow’s Botanical Excursions. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)
