The Springtime Blues

I suffer the springtime blues. Even here, in southern California, where palm trees sway and surfers wax their boards, I cannot escape the springtime blues. But these blues aren't blown through a harmonica, twanged on a guitar or sobbed at an indifferent bartender. These blues attract bees, smell of sweet perfume and burst from the soil. These blues are spring wildflowers, in this case Wild Hyacinth (Camassia scilloides), Blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia verna) and Blue Dogbane (Amsonia tabernaemontana), each a blue wonder.

I first came upon Wild Hyacinth in the woods of central Ohio; two-foot tall stems sporting racemes of pale blue stars. Blue Dogbane, which I found in North Carolina, also sported clusters of pale blue stars. And Blue-eyed Mary? It is, in my opinion, one of the most elegant and lovely of all the spring wildflowers I was fortunate enough to find back in Ohio.

Blue-eyed Mary is a member of the Snapdragon Family (Schrophulariaceae), and they are always crowd favorites. Each flower consists of white upper lip and deep blue lower lip. Each plant grows up to 24" tall, and sports a cluster of four to six blossoms. It grows in small patches from seeds dropped the previous year. The seeds often germinate in the autumn, growing to full maturity the following spring (something I have yet to do). It can be found in wooded floodplains, along open streams, and in low, rich woods. Its is named for Zaccheus Collins, a 19th-century American botanist. Its species name is from the Latin vernal, which we all know as "spring." Western cousins, none of which I have yet to encounter, include Giant Blue-eyed Mary (C. grandiflora), Maiden Blue-eyed Mary (C. parviflora), Spinsters Blue-eyed Mary (C. sparsiflora), and Sticky Blue-eyed Mary (C. rattanii).

Blue Dogbane, or Willow Amsonia, is a member of the Dogbane Family (Apocynaceae). It is a perennial, grows in woods and along streams and rivers, and is unforgettable with its terminal clusters of blue stars. It is named for an 18th-century Virginia physician, Charles Amson, and a 16th-century physician from Heidelberg, Jacobus Theodorus Tabernaemontanus. Western species include Short-leaved Amsonia (A. brevifolia), and Feltleaf Amsonia (A. tomentosa).

Wild Hyacinth, a member of the Lily Family (Liliaceae), is even more unforgettable than Blue Dogbane; it has more memorable blue stars. Its blue star-shaped flowers are about 3/4" wide, and its dangly bits, which stick out from the center of the flower like a recalcitrant cowlick on the back of a youngster's head, end in bright yellow knobs. It grows up to two feet tall, and prefers moist meadows and open woods. Its genus name, Camassia, is from the Native American quamash. Its bulbs were a food source for Native Americans and early explorers. Common Camas (Camassia quamash) is a well-know western species.

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