''Collinsia rattanii'' is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family known by the common name sticky blue-eyed Mary. It is native to the

coniferous forests Conifers () are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All e ...

of the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

of the United States from

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

to northern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It is an

annual herb An annual plant is a plant that completes its biological life cycle, life cycle, from germination to the production of seeds, within one growing season, and then dies. Globally, 6% of all plant species and 15% of herbaceous plants (excluding tr ...

growing up to 40 centimeters tall with linear leaves rolled under along the edges. The leaves are hairy on the upper surface and hairless and purple-tinted underneath. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

is coated in sticky glandular hairs. It has a series of nodes from which arise one to five flowers each on

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branch ...

. The flower is only 4 to 8 millimeters long, with two mostly white upper lobes and three mostly purple lower lobes.

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
rattanii Flora of California Flora of Oregon Flora of Washington (state) Flora of the Klamath Mountains Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Flora of the West Coast of the United States Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Plantaginaceae-stub