Plant: annual; STEMS 1.5-15(-25) cm tall, slender

Leaves: usually elliptic, ovate, or spatulate, to 25 mm long, 0.5-5(-9) mm wide

Flowers: homostylous, solitary on long erect or nodding pedicels to ca. 4 cm long; corollas 3.5-10(-12.5) mm long, salverform, usually purple or violet with reddish or brownish center

Fruit: FRUITS 1.5-4 mm long, 2.5-6 mm wide, thin walled, 1/2 inferior. SEEDS 0.5-1 mm in diameter, subglobose, with a small orifice opening into a subglobose hilar cavity without a hilar ridge

Misc: Grassy places, fields, in open or forested areas; 1000-1350 m (3300-4400 ft); Apr-May

REFERENCES: Terrell, Edward E. 1995 Rubiaceae. Houstonia. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. 29(l): 36.

Duration: Annual

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Small herbaceous annual with slender stems, erect and diffusely branching.

Leaves: Leaves elliptic, ovate, or spatulate, opposite.

Flowers: Flowers purple or violet with a reddish-brown center, trumpet-shaped with a narrow throat, to 10 mm long, the corolla with 4 lanceolate lobes, solitary on long pedicels to 4 cm long , the 4 calyx teeth awl-shaped.

Fruits: Capsules thin-walled, to 4 mm long. Seeds subglobose, with a small cup-like cavity that has no ridge within.

Ecology: Found open areas in grasslands, fields, and forests, from 3,300-4,400 ft (1067-1372 m); flowering April-May.

Notes: Look to the solitary flowers borne on long, slender flowers to help identify this species.

Synonyms: None

Editor: LCrumbacher, 2011

Much branched annual 5-15 cm, the stems glabrous; basal lvs ovate to elliptic, 5-10 mm, tapering to a short petiole, scaberulous on the margin; upper lvs narrower, subsessile; fls short-styled, solitary, terminal or also from the upper axils, on peduncles 1-3 cm; sep narrowly oblong to lance-ovate, 1.2-3 mm, half to fully as long as the cor-tube; cor blue or purple with a reddish eye, salverform, the tube 2.5-5 mm, glabrous within, the limb 4-8 mm wide; fr and seeds of no. 7 [Hedyotis caerulea (L.) Hook.]; 2n=16. Dry soil; coastal plain from se. Va. to Tex.; inland from Ill. to Nebr., s. to Tenn. and Tex. Apr. (Houstonia minima; Houstonia patens; Houstonia pusilla)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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