Collinsia torreyi

A. Gray

Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 7: 378. 1868.

Common names: Torrey’s blue-eyed Mary
Endemic
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 17. Treatment on page 71. Mentioned on page 64, 70.

Annuals 5–25 cm. Stems erect. Leaf blades linear, length usually 6+ times width, margins entire. Inflorescences densely glandular; nodes (1–)3–6-flowered; flowers not crowded; distalmost bracts linear, 0–2 mm. Pedicels ascending to spreading, sometimes reflexed, pendent and/or sigmoid in fruit, usually longer than calyx, visible. Flowers: calyx lobes lanceolate to ovate, equal to capsule, ape× subacute to rounded; corolla blue-violet to purple, banner white, cream, or pale lilac, 6–9 mm, sparsely glandular; banner length 0.9–1 times wings, lobe base with folds bulging 0.5 mm away from throat opening at base of each lobe, wings equal to keel; stamens: abaxial filaments glabrous, adaxials glabrous or hairy at base, basal spur 0. Seeds 2, ovate to oblong, sometimes compressed, 2–3 mm, margins thickened, inrolled. 2n = 42.


Phenology: Flowering May–Aug.
Habitat: Mixed oak-conifer forests.
Elevation: 1000–3000 m.

Discussion

Collinsia torreyi occurs only in the Sierra Nevada. In flower, it is superficially similar to C. linearis, with linear leaves and similarly colored and shaped flowers. In fruit, differences in the pedicels are distinct: S-shaped in C. torreyi and straight in C. linearis. Their ranges do not overlap.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.