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Lithospermum latifolium - (image 1 of 6)

Taxonomy

Family: Boraginaceae

Habitat

Dry woods and thickets.

Associates

Distribution

NY to MN, south to WV, TN, and MO.

Morphology

Herbaceous perennial; stems 40-80 cm, simple or branched above, the main internodes mostly 3-6 cm; leaves subsessile, lanceolate to lance-ovate, mostly 2-4 cm wide, acuminate, with 2-3 prominent lateral veins on each side; flowers solitary in the upper axils, becoming distant, yellowish, 5-7 mm long and about as wide; calyx lobes nearly as long as the corolla; nutlets ovoid, white, shiny, 3.5-5 mm, smooth or sparsely pitted. 

Notes

Flowers May or June

Wetland indicator: NA

Not as showy as many other native species, more closely resembling the introduced European gromwell (L. officinale) which has flowers in more crowded upper leaf axils and more slender leaves (0.6-2 cm wide vs. 3-6 cm wide).

References

Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY.

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