A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Lithospermum caroliniense
This perennial wildflower is 1-2½' tall and usually unbranched, except toward the apex where the flowers occur. Often a cluster of leafy stems originate from the same taproot. The rather stout stems are light green, very hairy, and either terete or shallowly grooved. Along each stem, there are 12 or more alternate leaves that are ascending to widely spreading. Individual leaves are 1½-3" long, ¼-¾" across, pale green to dark green, and sessile; they are narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate with margins that are toothless and ciliate. Both the upper and lower surfaces of the leaves are hairy. The upper stems terminate in curved racemes of flowers, forming together a flat-headed cluster of flowers. Each flower is about ¾" across, consisting of a yellow to orange-yellow corolla with 5 large rounded lobes, a green hairy calyx with 5 linear-lanceolate teeth, 5 inserted stamens, and a pistil with an inserted style. The tubular corolla has a narrow throat with widely spreading lobes; it is minutely hairy just below the opening of the throat.
The preference is full or partial sun, dry-mesic to dry conditions, and sandy soil. This one was photographed at Silver Bluff Audubon Center near Jackson, SC.
The showy flowers are cross-pollinated by such butterflies and skippers as Lycaeides melissa samuelis (Karner Blue) and Poanes hobomok (Hobomok Skipper). White-Tailed Deer occasionally browse on Hairy Puccoon.
Spotted on Apr 5, 2012
Submitted on Feb 24, 2013
No Comments