Collinsia grandiflora
Encyclopedia
Collinsia grandiflora is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family
known by the common names giant blue eyed Mary and large-flowered collinsia. This wildflower is native to western North America from British Columbia
to northern California
where it grows in coniferous
understory and woodland. This is an erect annual plant reaching about 35 centimeters in maximum height. It produces a thin stem and narrow leaves and looks grasslike before flowering. It produces a showy inflorescence
which is separated into interrupted levels, with each level producing a row of one to several flowers. Each pea-like flower is just over a centimeter wide and bright purple with white upper lips. The fruit is a capsule containing four seeds. The plant is relatively small, but its features are larger than most other Collinsia
, hence its common names.
Plantaginaceae
Plantaginaceae Juss. or plantain family, are a family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales. The type genus is Plantago L..In older classifications it used to be the only family of the order Plantaginales, but numerous phylogenetic studies, summarized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, have...
known by the common names giant blue eyed Mary and large-flowered collinsia. This wildflower is native to western North America from British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
to northern California
Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
where it grows in coniferous
Pinophyta
The conifers, division Pinophyta, also known as division Coniferophyta or Coniferae, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxa within the Kingdom Plantae. Pinophytes are gymnosperms. They are cone-bearing seed plants with vascular tissue; all extant conifers are woody plants, the great majority being...
understory and woodland. This is an erect annual plant reaching about 35 centimeters in maximum height. It produces a thin stem and narrow leaves and looks grasslike before flowering. It produces a showy inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
which is separated into interrupted levels, with each level producing a row of one to several flowers. Each pea-like flower is just over a centimeter wide and bright purple with white upper lips. The fruit is a capsule containing four seeds. The plant is relatively small, but its features are larger than most other Collinsia
Collinsia
Collinsia is a genus of about 25 species of annual flowering plants, consisting of the Blue-eyed Marys and the Chinese Houses. It was traditionally placed in the snapdragon family Scrophulariaceae, but following recent research in molecular genetics, it has now been placed in a much enlarged...
, hence its common names.