Synthyris missurica
Encyclopedia
Synthyris missurica is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family
known by the common names tailed kittentails and mountain kittentails. It is native to the Pacific Northwest
of the United States, where it grows in moist areas in forests and other mountain and foothill habitat types. It has the widest range of any of the nine Synthyris. It is often one of the first wildflowers to bloom in its mountain habitat, sometimes coming up before the snow is melted. It is a rhizomatous
perennial herb with a rosette of basal leaves with toothed, rounded blades borne on petioles
. The inflorescence
is a raceme
of bright violet-blue flowers, each about half a centimeter long with two protruding stamen
s.
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 tailed kittentails and mountain kittentails. It is native to the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
of the United States, where it grows in moist areas in forests and other mountain and foothill habitat types. It has the widest range of any of the nine Synthyris. It is often one of the first wildflowers to bloom in its mountain habitat, sometimes coming up before the snow is melted. It is a rhizomatous
Rhizome
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome is a characteristically horizontal stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes...
perennial herb with a rosette of basal leaves with toothed, rounded blades borne on petioles
Petiole (botany)
In botany, the petiole is the stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly surround the...
. The 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...
is a raceme
Raceme
A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...
of bright violet-blue flowers, each about half a centimeter long with two protruding stamen
Stamen
The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...
s.