Stats

Lifespan

Perennial

Size

Small

Diet

Photosynthetic

Biome

Temperate grassland

Range

North America

Movement

Sessile

Breeding

Seeds

Defense

Toxins

Status

Common

About

A tiny perennial wildflower of eastern North American lawns and meadows, forming loose mats of pale blue, four-petaled blooms each centered with a small yellow eye. Despite its delicate look, azure bluet spreads readily by rhizome and can carpet damp open ground in early spring long before taller plants leaf out.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   seed

   A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2. 2.
   sprout

   A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3. 3.
   sapling

   A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4. 4.
   mature

   Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Magnoliopsida

Order

Gentianales

Family

Rubiaceae

Genus

Houstonia

Species

Houstonia caerulea