![](https://txmg.org/somervell/files/2020/06/Bluebell-flowers-pic-113x150.jpg)
Photo courtesy of Norman G. Flaigg and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
One of my favorite native flowers, and one that I’m constantly keeping an eye out for, is the Bluebell, Eustoma exaltatum. I believe this is one of the most beautiful native flowers there is.
They have been used so much as cut flowers in floral arrangements that they have been unable to reseed fully, so their populations have declined across much of their natural range. (However, seed is available for purchase.)
Eustoma, is from the Greek “eu,” meaning good, and “stoma”, meaning mouth. This is in reference to the large opening into the throat of the flower where the corolla lobes come together. Bluebells bloom throughout the heat of summer when many other wildflowers die out.
The blue to violet colored, five-petaled, bell-shaped flowers are 1½ to 2 inches long and 2 to 2½ inches across and there can be several on one stem. Flowering generally occurs between June and September or October.
Photo courtesy of Joseph A. Marcus and
the Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center.
The leaves are a bluish-green color, thick and almost succulent-like, and are prominently three-veined – this can help you identify the plant before flowering. Plants can be 1 to 2 feet tall. Bluebells prefer damp, moist prairie sites and sun. On our place, we see them in areas where we have seeps or close to a pond or tank, especially the spillway.
Bluebells should be blooming, so watch for this gorgeous native plant!
Cyd Brown
Somervell County Master Gardener