Mertensia paniculata

Tall bluebells is native to North America. It is distributed from Alaska east to Quebec and south to Wisconsin and Oregon. Disjunct populations of tall bluebells occur in Connecticut [1,26,37,70].

Distribution of varieties: Of the tall bluebells varieties, the typical variety is the most widespread. Its distribution is identical to that of the species. Alaska tall bluebells is limited to Alaska, Yukon, and Northwest Territory [37]. Northern bluebells occurs in northwestern Montana, adjacent Idaho, and British Columbia south to Washington and Oregon [30,37]. Eastwood's bluebells is present in Alaska and Northwest Territory [1,37]. Plants Database provides a distributional map of tall bluebells and its varieties.

(key to state/province abbreviations)
UNITED STATES AK CT IA ID MI MN MT OR WA WI
CANADA AB BC MB NT NU ON PQ SK YK

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This species can be found in the following regions of the western United States (according to the Bureau of Land Management classification of Physiographic Regions of the western United States):

BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS [8]:

1 Northern Pacific Border

2 Cascade Mountains

5 Columbia Plateau

8 Northern Rocky Mountains

Mertensia paniculata (Aiton) G. Don:
Canada (North America)
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Canada

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

United States

Origin: Unknown/Undetermined

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

More info for the terms: caudex, forb, rhizome, strigose

This description provides characteristics that may be relevant to fire ecology, and is not meant for identification. Keys for identification are available [1,11,19,26,30,41,42,54,70].

Tall bluebells is a native, perennial forb. Aerial stems are erect, 1 to many, and are 8 to 59 inches (20-150 cm) tall. They arise from a fibrous caudex or stout rhizome. Each aerial stem produces 1 to several inflorescences with few to many pendulous, bell-shaped flowers. Basal leaves, when present, are 2 to 8 inches (5-20 cm) long, 1 to 4 inches (2.5-10 cm) wide, cordate to ovate, and borne on 6- to 12-inch- (15-30 cm) long petioles. They are distinctly veined. Numerous cauline leaves are alternate, lanceolate to cordate, 1.2 to 7 inches (3-18 cm) long, 0.4 to 3 inches (1-8 cm) wide, and short-petiolate. They are strigose above and coarsely strigose beneath. Each flower produces 0 to 4 single-seeded nutlets [1,11,26,31,50,52,54].

Descriptions and a key for identifying 3 of the tall bluebells varieties―Alaska tall bluebells, Eastwood's bluebells, and the typical variety―are available in [34]. A general description for northern bluebells is available in [9,31].

Tall bluebells shows an affinity to "rich" boreal forest sites [12]. Site descriptions are provided below.

State, Region, Province Variety, if applicable Site Characteristics Alaska (and neighboring Provinces) Alaska tall bluebells woods and riverbanks Eastwood's bluebell woods and riverbanks typical variety woods, riverbanks, in McKinley Park to 5,600 feet (1,700 m) [34] Idaho northern bluebells streamsides and wet meadows [52] riverbanks, rocky slopes, wet meadows; 5,000-8,400 feet (1,500-2,600 m) [9] Michigan ...* Coniferous swamps and woods, shaded edges of streams, rocky openings; rarely in deciduous woods [70] Montana (west-central) ... moist woods and meadows [11,19] Mt Rainier National Park ... moist places; 4,000 to 6,000 feet (1,200-1,800 m) [61] Pacific Northwest ... streambanks, wet meadows, damp thickets, and wet cliffs, open forests at all elevations [31,54] Selway-Bitterroot Mountains, ID and MT ... riverbanks to timberline [41] Canada ... damp woods [26] *variety not stated

More info for the term: phase

Tall bluebells is a dominant species in the following boreal forest community
types of North America [22]:

• balsam fir-cottonwood/prickly rose (Abies balsamea-Populus spp./Rosa acicularis)/tall
  bluebells phase of the white spruce-fir (Picea glauca-Abies spp.) community type

• prickly rose-red currant/naked miterwort (Ribes triste/Mitella nuda)-tall bluebells phase
  of the black spruce (P. mariana) community type

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This species is known to occur in association with the following Rangeland Cover Types (as classified by the Society for Range Management, SRM):

More info for the terms: cover, shrub, tussock

SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES [60]:

901 Alder

904 Black spruce-lichen

905 Bluejoint reedgrass

906 Broadleaf forest

908 Fescue

917 Tall shrub swamp

918 Tussock tundra

920 White spruce-paper birch

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This species is known to occur in association with the following cover types (as classified by the Society of American Foresters):

More info for the term: cover

SAF COVER TYPES [23]:

1 Jack pine

5 Balsam fir

12 Black spruce

13 Black spruce-tamarack

16 Aspen

18 Paper birch

37 Northern white-cedar

38 Tamarack

107 White spruce

201 White spruce

202 White spruce-paper birch

203 Balsam poplar

204 Black spruce

206 Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir

210 Interior Douglas-fir

213 Grand fir

215 Western white pine

217 Aspen

218 Lodgepole pine

222 Black cottonwood-willow

224 Western hemlock

227 Western
redcedar-western hemlock

228 Western redcedar

229 Pacific Douglas-fir

251 White spruce-aspen

252 Paper birch

253 Black spruce-white spruce

254 Black spruce-paper birch

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This species is known to occur in association with the following plant community types (as classified by Küchler 1964):

KUCHLER [40] PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:

K002 Cedar-hemlock-Douglas-fir forest

K012 Douglas-fir forest

K013 Cedar-hemlock-pine forest

K015 Western spruce-fir forest

K093 Great Lakes spruce-fir forest

K094 Conifer bog

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This species is known to occur in the following ecosystem types (as named by the U.S. Forest Service in their Forest and Range Ecosystem [FRES] Type classification):

ECOSYSTEMS [25]:

FRES10 White-red-jack pine

FRES11 Spruce-fir

FRES19 Aspen-birch

FRES20 Douglas-fir

FRES22 Western white pine

FRES23 Fir-spruce

FRES24 Hemlock-Sitka spruce

FRES26 Lodgepole pine

FRES28 Western hardwoods

More info for the terms: adventitious, cover, duff, fire severity, frequency, mesic, prescribed burn, prescribed fire, severity, wildfire

Underground vegetative parts allow for tall bluebells regeneration after
fire. Mann and Plug [47] excavated 5 tall
bluebells individuals and found plants were spreading laterally by adventitious
roots, some as deep as 2 inches (5 cm) below the mineral soil surface. On this
basis they inferred that tall bluebells can reproduce after fires by sprouting.
Vegetative regeneration of tall bluebells following the 1999 Black River
wildfire on quaking aspen boreal forests in southeastern Manitoba was recorded
for each fire severity class. During the 1st 4 years after fire, tall bluebells
was least abundant on severely burned plots [72,73].

Fire severity

Mean percent coverMean percent frequencyScorched (litter not burned or partially burned)1.111Lightly burned (litter burned but without or with very
limited duff consumption)2.923Severely burned (forest floor completely consumed)<0.11
Tall bluebells responds favorably after fire. It established on mesic sites
in the 2nd growing season following a prescribed fire on a jack pine clearcut in
Saskatchewan [13]. Tall bluebells was present on 6 of 21 burned stands 12 to 15
years following fire on boreal forests in southeastern Manitoba. Mean percent
tall bluebells cover was 0.9% [38]. Frequency and cover of tall bluebells were
not significantly affected by a prescribed burn on Lutz spruce (Picea × lutzii) stands in Alaska. Tall
bluebells cover before and 7 years after fire was 8% to 6%, respectively, and frequency ranged
from 12% before to 18% seven years after fire. Tall bluebells cover and frequency
on unburned transects increased in the same years. Cover went from 2%
before fire to 8% after fire, and frequency from 15% to 31% [33]. Whether regeneration came from
off-site seed or vegetative sprouting was not indicated in either article.
Studies on tall bluebells regeneration from seed after fire are few and
inconclusive. Soil block samples collected a week after wildfire on a
quaking aspen boreal forest in Alberta were observed under greenhouse conditions to determine the
effects of burn severity on seed banks, vegetative banks, and emergent understory
species 2 years following fire. Tall bluebells did not germinate in soil samples
and had a very low vegetative bank index (proportion of rhizomes present among all blocks;
n=30) of 0.03 on blocks taken from
"intensely" (complete consumption of
aboveground vegetation) burned and unburned sites. Mean
percent cover for tall bluebells as an emergent understory species 2 years
following fire was: 5.65% on intensely burned sites, 4.28% on "lightly"
(characterized by death of aboveground plant parts) burned sites, and 1.19% on
unburned sites [43]. In 1972, a study site on quaking aspen stands in central
Alberta was burned under prescription. The site was reburned in 1978. Tall bluebells was
not observed on either control or burned plots after the 1972 fire. It was, however, found
on reburned plots in 1978 [55]. It is possible that in these studies, tall bluebells emerged on the burned areas
from an off-site seed source. See the Research Project Summary
Understory recovery after burning and reburning quaking aspen stands in central Alberta for an extended report on the Quintilio and others [55] study.

More info for the term: caudex

Tall bluebells sprouts from the caudex, rhizomes, and roots after fire. It is known to establish on burned soils, likely from an off-site seed source [2,47,72].

Tall bluebells is likely top-killed by fire.

More info for the terms: geophyte, rhizome, root crown, secondary colonizer

POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY [62]:
Rhizomatous herb, rhizome in soil
Caudex/herbaceous root crown, growing points in soil
Geophyte, growing points deep in soil
Secondary colonizer (on-site or off-site seed sources)

More info for the terms: fire regime, mixed-severity fire, mixed-severity fire regime

Fire adaptations: Postfire regeneration for tall bluebells is mostly vegetative. Tall bluebells sprouts from surface or buried vegetative parts [72]. Buried rhizomes are most likely to sprout. Tall bluebells may also regenerate from off-site seed sources after fire. Neither seed dispersal nor seedling establishment is documented for tall bluebells, with or without fire. Further research is needed on tall bluebells's fire ecology.

FIRE REGIMES: The white-black spruce boreal forest ecosystems where tall bluebells most commonly occurs are susceptible to frequent (35-200 years), stand-replacing fires because of the accumulation of large amounts of highly flammable organic matter. Tall bluebells is also common in quaking aspen-dominated boreal forest ecosystems that are characteristic of a mixed-severity fire regime [20].

The following table provides fire return intervals for plant communities and ecosystems where tall bluebells is important. For further information, see the FEIS review of the dominant species listed below.

Community or Ecosystem Dominant Species Fire Return Interval Range (years) grand fir Abies grandis 35-200 [3] birch Betula spp. 80-230 [65] tamarack Larix laricina 35-200 [53] Great Lakes spruce-fir Picea-Abies spp. 35 to >200 [20] Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir Picea engelmannii-Abies lasiocarpa 35 to >200 [3] black spruce P. mariana 35-200 conifer bog* P. mariana-Larix laricina 35-200 [20] jack pine Pinus banksiana <35 to 200 [14,20] Rocky Mountain lodgepole pine* P. contorta var. latifolia 25-340 [6,7,66] Sierra lodgepole pine* P. contorta var. murrayana 35-200 western white pine* P. monticola 50-200 [3] aspen-birch Populus tremuloides-Betula 35-200 [20,71] quaking aspen (west of the Great Plains) P. tremuloides 7-120 [3,27,49] Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir* Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca 25-100 [3,4,5] coastal Douglas-fir* P. menziesii var. menziesii 40-240 [3,51,58] western redcedar-western hemlock Thuja plicata-Tsuga heterophylla >200 [3] *fire return interval varies widely; trends in variation are noted in the species review

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More info for the terms: climax, cover, frequency, relative frequency, shrub, succession, tundra

Tall bluebells is a shade tolerant species [38,44] that occurs in early and late-seral communities. Although generally most common in mid-succession, it has been observed in early successional boreal communities in Alaska and Canada after fire, clearcutting, and logging/burning [15,24,57,59,63]. Mean frequency and cover of tall bluebells was greatest on newly burned white spruce stands in Alaska, and tall bluebells maintained mean frequency and cover throughout all other stages of succession [24].

Tall bluebells is often present in early seral stages and increases in frequency and cover over time. Average percent cover of tall bluebells increased, though not significantly (P=0.516), within a regenerating quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) stand in Alberta 3, 5, 9, and 20 years after clearcutting. Percent cover was 1%, 2%, 1%, and 4%, respectively [63]. On 18- and 19-year-old black spruce plantations, tall bluebells had mean relative frequency of 3%. Twenty years later at the same site, mean relative frequency was 39% [35]. Tall bluebells was not present in the pioneer stage (25 to 35 years) on gravel outwash from the Muldrow Glacier in Alaska. Cover and frequency increased throughout the meadow (100 years after glacial scour), early shrub (150-200 years), and late shrub (200-300 years) stages, with the greatest tall bluebells cover and frequency during the latter. There was no evidence of tall bluebells in climax tundra (5,000-9,000 years) [68]. Tall bluebells percent frequency and cover increased through the 1st 3 stages of succession recorded for the Chena River floodplain near Fairbanks, Alaska, but tall bluebells was not present in later successional and climax communities. Percent frequency and cover for tall bluebells are provided below [69].

Successional stage Percent frequency Percent cover 15-year-old Alaska willow (Salix alaxensis) stand 10 <1 50-year-old balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera) stand 20 1 120-year-old white spruce stand 40 2 220-year-old white spruce-black spruce stand 0 0 climax black spruce/sphagnum (Sphagnum spp.) stand 0 0

More info for the terms: adventitious, tundra, tussock

Tall bluebells regenerates mostly by vegetative means [29,38]. Morris [50] states that tall bluebells is "clonal, but nonspreading". Tall bluebells reproduces from ramets that typically remain tightly clustered around the parent plant, possibly limiting clonal spreading [18,29]. Hicks and Turkington [29] mention sprouting from rhizomes. Mann and Plug [47] state that excavated tall bluebell individuals were spreading laterally by adventitious roots, and it is on this basis that they inferred its capability to reproduce by sprouting. It is also likely that tall bluebells regenerates from seed. Further research is needed on the regeneration of tall bluebells from seed.

Pollination: Bumble bees are the only documented pollinator of tall bluebells [46,50].

Breeding system: No information is available on this topic.

Seed production: Each flower may produce up to 4 single-seeded nutlets [50].

Seed dispersal: No information is available on this topic.

Seed banking: Soil excavated from a tussock tundra site at Eagle Creek, Alaska, was tested in the laboratory for viable seeds. Tall bluebells was part of the aboveground tundra vegetation but did not germinate in the laboratory [48], suggesting either that it does not have a great capacity for seed banking or that its germination requirements were not met during testing.

Germination: No information is available on this topic.

Seedling establishment/growth: No information is available on this topic.

Vegetative regeneration: Tall bluebells regenerates vegetatively from rhizomes [29].

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More info for the terms: geophyte, hemicryptophyte

RAUNKIAER [56] LIFE FORM:
Hemicryptophyte
Geophyte

More info for the term: forb

Forb

The current body of research provides no clear direction for using fire as a management tool for tall bluebells populations. Research (discussed above) suggests that fire does not significantly hinder tall bluebells populations and may even have positive effects. Further research is needed.

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Flowering dates for tall bluebells are provided below.

State or province Anthesis period Idaho May to August [52] Ontario June to September [36] Yukon May to June [32]

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 2
Specimens with Barcodes: 3
Species With Barcodes: 1

Information on state-level protected status of plants in the United States is available at Plants Database.

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: NNR - Unranked

More info for the terms: competition, cover, frequency, resistance

Tall bluebells shows some resistance to disturbance. In British Columbia, tall
bluebells percent cover increased on
sites that were disked and then sprayed with glyphosate compared to sites that
were just disked. On undisked sites, tall bluebells percent cover was lower on the
sprayed site than the site with no treatment [10].

Tall bluebells increased or maintained pretreatment levels after white spruce harvesting on Willow Island near
Fairbanks, Alaska. The percent frequency of tall bluebells
surpassed pretreatment levels within 1 year, and percent cover was surpassed within 2 years of clearcutting.
One year after a shelterwood treatment, tall bluebells cover value remained the
same, and frequency decreased slightly [21].
Harvesting in quaking aspen stands in British Columbia significantly (P≤0.05)
increased the cover of tall bluebells on both grazed and ungrazed study areas, more so in
the latter. Greater light transmission and reduced plant competition for water
and nutrients after harvesting may increase tall bluebells cover. The
percent cover of tall bluebells after treatments is detailed below [39].
 Ungrazed treatmentGrazed treatmentUnharvested0.53.7Harvested4.35.9
Conversely, there is evidence that tall bluebells is intolerant to
logging disturbance. In northeastern British Columbia tall bluebells
is strongly associated with unlogged plant communities.
It showed a reduction in frequency after clearcutting [28].
Herbicides: On boreal quaking aspen stands
in Alberta, tall bluebells percent cover was reduced
after applications of the herbicide hexazinone. The herbicide was applied in a
3-year-old regenerating quaking aspen clearcut to determine the effects of
spraying on the compositional and structural development of vegetation [64].