Lithospermum canescens (Hoary Puccoon)
| Also known as: | |
|---|---|
| Genus: | Lithospermum |
| Family: | Boraginaceae (Borage) |
| Life cycle: | perennial |
| Origin: | native |
| Habitat: | part shade, sun; dry; prairies, rocky open woods, along roads and railroads |
| Bloom season: | May - August |
| Plant height: | 6 to 18 inches |
| USDA PLANTS database: | Minnesota county distribution map |
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Detailed Information
Flower: 
![[photo of flowers]](/udata/r9ndp23q/orange/hoary-puccoon_0529_160639.jpg)
Flowers are in a (more or less) flat cluster at the top of the plant. Individual flowers are orange-yellow, ½ inch across, and tubular with 5 rounded petal-like lobes that flare out at the end. The stamens are hidden inside the tube. The bracts at the base of the tube are narrow, less than ¼ inch long, and covered in long hairs. Plants may be branched near the top, with a cluster at the end of each branch.
Leaves and stem:
![[photo of leaves]](/udata/r9ndp23q/orange/hoary-puccoon_0529_160856.jpg)
Leaves are up to 2½ inches long and to ½ inch wide, with a blunt point at the tip and no leaf stem. The underside is very hairy; the upperside feels more smooth. The main stem is covered in long, soft, gray hairs.
Notes:
Hoary Puccoon is very similar to Carolina Puccoon (Lithospermum caroliniense). Carolina Puccoon has 1-inch flowers, the bracts are much longer, and the stem hairs are shorter, more sparse, and more bristly.Where to buy native seed and plants
Map of native plant purveyors in the upper midwest
Help support this site by buying seeds & plants from these vendors. Tell them we sent you!
More photos
Hoary Puccoon plants 
flower bracts Photos taken at Long Lake Regional Park, New Brighton, MN May 2008
Comments
Have you seen this plant in Minnesota, or have any other comments about it?
on: 2009-12-12 17:46:06
Dave Crawford told me he tried to grow some from seed collected at Wild River SP. He actually got some sprouts, but they didn't survive more than a couple years.
Some plants have symbiotic relationships with fungi, microbes or other stuff in the soil and can't survive without them. Maybe puccoon is like that, they just haven't figured out what that special thing is yet.
on: 2010-05-27 22:41:55
Just found some in the roadside west outside of Montevideo.
on: 2010-05-31 22:13:16
This is blooming in Wild River State Park right now. Very beautiful
on: 2011-02-02 21:50:50
Marie Sperka's book "Growing Wildflowers" (out of print but available on Amazon.com) says it can be propagated by root cuttings (I haven't tried it but have found her advice in general to be reliable: use roots about the size of a wood pencil; cut into 2" pieces. Cut the top portion of the root straight across and the bottom at an angle---your signal to plant it right side up. Set cuttings in sand or sandy loam about 1" deep and keep slightly moist. These cuttings usually root in one year and some may even bloom the 2nd year. If roots break off while digging, new shoots will develop and another plant will grow from the portion left in the soil. Often several eyes are formed on the stub and a plant with a multiple crown is born.
At our cabin in the sand/pine barrens of WI, they seem to proliferate.
on: 2011-06-29 13:47:38
Blooming or at teh end of its bloom along the entrance road into the park as well as in our restoration area. Cool!
on: 2011-07-27 15:29:42
These were one of my favorite wildflowers growing up. They thrive in our sandy soil and I learned early that they were best appreciated in the ground rather than wilting in a vase. I have always wondered what they were called. I called them little buttercups.
on: 2012-06-16 12:29:30
In the prairie restoration area as you enter the park
on: 2012-07-12 22:05:42
This is fairly common along the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge Wildlife Drive. This year (2012) was a good year for it. It also pops up here and there along the roads on our part of the sand plain. There is no other flower with this same wonderful yellow hue.
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on: 2009-12-12 08:06:29
Both this and the closely related Hairy Puccoon (L. caroliniense) have not gone unnoticed by the horticulture industry. Unfortunately no one has figured out how to propagate it reliably. The plant's deep, strong root system will not tolerate any kind of transplanting and years of study at the UofM St. Paul revealed that, for reasons unknown, viable seed set is rare.