The MN wildflower blog

I’ve seen 2 or 3 of these plants at Long Lake Regional Park (LLRP). I first noticed blooms this year in mid-May, but it could have started flowering a couple weeks earlier than that. I first noticed the plant at the end of July 2006; it was still in full bloom at that time.

Flower:

Spike cluster up to 5 inches long of irregular bluish purple flowers, each about ½ inch long. There may be several spikes branching off the upper part of the main stem.

Leaves and stem:

Leaves are to 2 inches long and 1 inch wide, generally oval, with pointed or slightly rounded tips and little or no leaf stem. The vein pattern on the leaves reminds me of leatherette. Attachment is opposite. The stem is square, and hairy, especially near the base of the main stem.

Notes:

With opposite leaves and a square stem, this must be in the Mint family. Plant height is about 12 inches tall and it appears to grow in clumps. The plants were found near the road, by the train depot. This area is also populated with plants such as Black-eyed Susan, Lead Plant, Butterfly-weed, and Hoary Vervain.

More photos

• a clump of plants

Photos taken at Long Lake Regional Park, New Brighton, MN, July 22, 2006 and May 19, 2007.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 27th, 2007 at 8:02 pm by K Chayka and is filed under Garden Escapees, Name that plant, Wildflowers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.