Amsonia tomentosa

Amsonia tomentosa is a species of flowering plant native to the southwestern United States (S California, S Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, W Texas) and northern Mexico (Chihuahua).[1][2] Its common names include woolly bluestar and gray amsonia.

Amsonia tomentosa
Amsonia tomentosa - woolly form
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Apocynaceae
Genus: Amsonia
Species:
A. tomentosa
Binomial name
Amsonia tomentosa
Synonyms
  • Amsonia brevifolia var. tomentosa (Torr. & Frém.) Jeps.
  • Amsonia arenaria Standl.
  • Amsonia eastwoodiana Rydb.
  • Amsonia filiformis A.Nelson
  • Amsonia brevifolia A.Gray
  • Amsonia lanata Alexander

Amsonia tomentosa is a short, woody plant with many erect stems rarely reaching half a meter in height. The plant has two forms, a green glabrous (hairless) form, and a gray woolly form. The leaves are oval but pointed, and about 3 centimeters long. The flowers are white with a green or blue tint. They are tubular at the base and have flat faces with five petals. The flowers often come clumped in a cyme inflorescence. The fruits are podlike follicles that may separate into sections, each bearing a seed.

Varieties
  1. Amsonia tomentosa var. stenophylla Kearney & Peebles – Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Texas, Chihuahua
  2. Amsonia tomentosa var. tomentosa – S California, S Nevada, NW Arizona

Uses

Among the Zuni people, a compound poultice of the root of the tomentosa variety is applied with much ceremony to rattlesnake bite.[3]

References
  1. Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  2. Biota of North America Program 2013 county distribution map
  3. Stevenson, Matilda Coxe 1915 Ethnobotany of the Zuni Indians. SI-BAE Annual Report #30 (p. 53)


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