Single Record

Participant Info

Species
Mertensia ciliata [Pulmonaria ciliata]
Family
Boraginaceae
CommonName
tall fringed bluebell, mountain bluebell
Presence
YES
Status
native
EarliestDate
1911
LatestDate
2024
Ecosystem
montane, subalpine
Geobotanical
SSawatch, Garitas, SSanjuans, Culebras, NCristos
Counties
Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache, San Juan
Passes
Cumbres, Elwood, La Manga, La Veta, Music, Stony, Wolf Creek
WildlifePreserves
Other Localities
Comments
Mertensia ciliata is common creek side in all mountain regions of the Watershed, occasionally reaching into the subalpine. It ranges mainly through the mountains of all USA states west of the Great Plains. BONAP shows it present as far south in the Rio Grande drainage as Sierra Co, New Mexico, but not farther down stream. Note that Ackerfield 2022 puts M. ciliata into the category of "Upper leaf surface with pustulate hairs" (couplet 2, p. 227), but as far as I know all authorities describe the upper leaf of the species as glabrous with papillae, a feature which distinguishes it from the equally common M. franciscana. It is M. franciscana whose upper leaf surface often has some pustulate hairs.