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''Hydrophyllum virginianum'', commonly called Virginia waterleaf or eastern waterleaf, is a species of plant in the borage family (
Connecticut Botanical Society: ''Hydrophyllum virginianum''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5955321 virginianum Flora of Northern America Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Boraginaceae
Boraginaceae, the Borago, borage or forget-me-not family, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, trees, and herbs in 146 to 154 genus, genera with a worldwide distribution.
The APG IV system from 2016 classifies the Boraginaceae as single famil ...
). It is an herbaceous
Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials.
Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous"
The fourth edition of ...
perennial
In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...
plant
Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...
native to Eastern North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
where it is primarily found in the Midwest, Northeast, and Appalachian regions.
Its natural habitat is in bottomland forests, mesic upland forests, and rocky forested bluffs.
Description
''Hydrophyllum virginianum'' is an herbaceous perennial that spreads byrhizomes
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...
to form large colonies in wooded areas. It can also spread by seeds.
The seedling usually appear early to mid-spring. Flowers are blue, white, or purple, appearing in mid to late spring. Flowers exposed to sunlight bleach rapidly. Often the newer leaves are solid green with white spots appearing as they age and later disappearing in early summer.
Taxonomy
Populations in the southernAppalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...
have purple to maroon flowers and differ in a number of other characters. The taxonomic status of these entities has been debated, with the most traditional treatments recognizing them at the varietal rank as ''Hydrophyllum virginianum'' var. ''atranthum''. However, specific status to these population (as ''Hydrophyllum atranthum'') is given in the 2020 edition of Alan Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern United States.
References
External links
Connecticut Botanical Society: ''Hydrophyllum virginianum''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5955321 virginianum Flora of Northern America Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus