BABY-BLUE-EYES

Nemophila menziesii

Borage Family [Boraginaceae]

month8jun month8june month8jul month8july month8aug

status
statusZneophyte
flower
flower8azure
inner
inner8white
morph
morph8actino
petals
petalsZ5
stem
stem8round
sex
sexZbisexual

14th Aug 2013, Moses Gate Country Park, Bolton, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
Grows to 30cm high but is a bit flimsy.


14th Aug 2013, Moses Gate Country Park, Bolton, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
There are hairs on the pinnate leaves which are in opposite pairs.


14th Aug 2013, Moses Gate Country Park, Bolton, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
When open the flowers are usually pale blue.


14th Aug 2013, Moses Gate Country Park, Bolton, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
The 5 lanceolate sepals have 5 accessory lobes which are angled downwards between them.


14th Aug 2013, Moses Gate Country Park, Bolton, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
The corolla is between 15 to 30mm across, pale blue and with a whitish centre.


14th Aug 2013, Moses Gate Country Park, Bolton, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
Each flower has 5 white filaments with T-bar anthers atop,


14th Aug 2013, Moses Gate Country Park, Bolton, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
The flowers can also be white or a darker blue.


14th Aug 2013, Moses Gate Country Park, Bolton, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
Note the unopened flower just left of centre. The 5 sepals are isosceles-triangular. Five shorter accessory lobes emerge at the bottom between the sepals.


14th Aug 2013, Moses Gate Country Park, Bolton, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
Several pinnate leaves emerge from the same location on the stem. The leaves can have between 5 and 13 lobes which can be entire or have between 1 to 3 teeth.


14th Aug 2013, Moses Gate Country Park, Bolton, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
The larger pinnate leaves have teeth (seen top right)


Not to be semantically confused with : Blue-eyed-Grass (Sisyrinchium bermudiana), Blue-eyed Mary (Omphalodes verna), Blue-eyed African Daisy (Arctotis stoechadifolia) or Annual Baby's-breath (Gypsophila elegans), [plants with similar names belonging to differing families].

Some similarities to : Flax (Linum usitatissimum) and Perennial Flax (Linum perenne)

Uniquely identifiable characteristics

Distinguishing Feature :

It is a casual neophyte which is native to California, America and hardly occurs in the UK except in gardens. It occurs casually on waste tips and the sites of old gardens, but it does not persist for long. These specimens were presumed planted.


  Nemophila menziesii  ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ Boraginaceae  

Distribution
 family8Borage family8Boraginaceae
 BSBI maps
genus8Nemophila
Nemophila
(Baby-blue-eyes)

BABY-BLUE-EYES

Nemophila menziesii

Borage Family [Boraginaceae]