A number of species of Mertensia are abundant throughout the blooming season in the Four Corners area.  At lower elevations, Mertensia appear in April; in the San Juans and nearby mountain ranges, Mertensia appear as short plants in open meadows and woods in the spring, tall plants along streams at higher elevations in the summer, and dwarf plants above timberline.  On any plant, flower color of the dainty, drooping bells often varies from purples and blues to very light pinks depending on how long the flowers have been open.

     The most prominent display of Mertensia is along mountain streams where some species of Mertensia form large, dense colonies with thousands of sweetly scented flowers.

     The genus was named by Albrecht Roth in 1797 for F. K. Mertens a German botanist of the late 1700s and early 1800s.  (More biographical information.)

Foothills, montane.  Woodlands, meadows, openings.  Spring, summer.
Cross Mountain Trail, June 12, 2006.
Mesa Verde National Park, May 9, 2007.

Mertensia brevistyla and Mertensia lanceolata (see below) are very similar in shape and color.  Both grow from 4-16 inches tall and both tend to grow singly or in small scattered patches.  Several characteristics separate them: although both often have hairy leaves, the hairs of the upper leaf surface of M. brevistyla are all oriented perpendicular to the leaf mid-vein.  The hairs of M. lanceolata are varied in their orientation.  Also, M. brevistyla is found from about 6,000 feet altitude to 10,000 feet; M. lanceolata is at higher altitudes, often alpine.

"Brevistyla" refers to the style (the yellow/white appendage shown below) which is shorter than the calyx lobes. 

Foothills, montane.  Woodlands, meadows, openings.  Spring, summer.
Cross Mountain Trail, June 12, 2006.

M. lanceolata, shown below does not occur in Utah or Arizona.  M. brevistyla does not occur in Arizona and is found in just a few north-western counties of New Mexico.  Both plants occur primarily in the mountains of Colorado but M. lanceolata is also found northward in Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas.

Mertensia brevistyla was named by Sereno Watson in 1871 from a specimen he collected in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah.

Foothills, montane.  Woodlands, meadows, openings.  Spring, summer.
Cross Mountain Trail, June 12, 2006.

Numerous, short, flattened hairs pointing away from the prominent mid-vein of the leaf are key identifying characteristics for M. brevistyla.

Foothills to alpine.  Woodlands, meadows, openings.  Spring, summer.
Cinnamon Pass, July 26, 2007 and Cross Mountain Trail, June 30, 2010.

Mertensia lanceolata is, in William Weber's words, "a quite variable and complex species separable into alpine and lowland, pubescent and glabrous, broad- and narrow-leaved races, all evidently merging and recombining in puzzling ways."  It is typically 8-14 inches tall

Although Weber indicates that Mertensia lanceolata grows at low altitudes, in the Four Corners area it is usually found at high sub-alpine and alpine altitudes.  It grows singly or in small bouquets, generally in greater numbers than Mertesia brevistyla. It does not grow in the massive numbers that sometimes characterize M. franciscana and often characterize M. ciliata.

"Lanceolata" refers to the leaf shape. Frederic Pursh named this plant Pulmonaria lanceolata in 1814 and Augustin de Candolle renamed it Mertensia lanceolata in 1846.

Foothills to alpine.  Woodlands, meadows, openings.  Spring, summer.
Eureka Gulch, July 18, 2009.

Foothills to alpine.  Woodlands, meadows, openings.  Spring, summer.
Cinnamon Pass, July 26, 2007.

Mertensia  lanceolata alpine flowers often have more intensely blue hues and it is common to find small clumps of plants rather than individual plants.

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Mertensia brevistyla

Range map for Mertensia lanceolata