Palouse Prairie Foundation native plant database

Plant Species: Linnaea borealis, western twinflower

Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants

Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicots

Family: Caprifoliaceae -- honeysuckle

Genus: Linnaea

Species: borealis

Variety:

Common Name: western twinflower

Species Code: LIBO3

Origin: Native to moist, shady to open forests and streambanks of North America. Several subspecies are recognized. The species is circumboreal.

Rare: common in the forested west but ssp. americana is rare or extirpated in some eastern states.

Form: subshrub or forb, perennial, trailing; stems short, suberect, slender, semi-woody to woody; less than 10 cm tall; hairy when young, often glandular.

Duration: perennial

Longevity:

Habitat Type: forest

Wetland Indicator Status: FACU-

Leaves: opposite, evergreen, dark green above, paler below, short-petiolate, leathery, elliptic to obovate to subrotund, entire or shallowly toothed above the middle, 7-25 mm long by 5-15 mm wide, glabrous or long hairy on the veins and margins.

Mature height:

Flowers: perfect, nodding, borne in pairs on paired pedicles; corolla 10-13 mm long, funnelform to campanulate, flaring to 5 lobes, pink.

Flowers color:

Bloom: June, July,

Bloom starts on:

Bloom ends on:

Fruit: capsule, indehiscent, 3 mm long, lanceoloid, single seeded.

Vegetation type:

Characteristics:
Reproduces both sexually by seed and vegetatively by stolons.
Flowers are perfect.
Fruit is a capsule.
Leaves are evergreen.
n=8 (Baldwin et al 2004).
n=16 (Hitchcock et al 1969).
Polyploidy is present.
Circumboreal species.
Plants are a minor component of the diet of Rocky Mountain elk in winter (Kufeld 1973).

Herb data:

Comments:

Sun requirement:

Soil moisture:

Precipitation:

Fire: Plants colonize disturbed areas rapidly (Patterson et al 1985).
Susceptible to fire because it is stoloniferous and the crown is close to the surface of mineral soil (McLean 1969).

Hazards:

Sowing time:

Transplant time:

Stratification: cold moist

Seed yield:

Seed harvest: August

Seed first harvest:

Seed cleaning:

Planting duration: long

Seed insect problem:

Seed shatter: low

Seed size: medium

Seed harvest date: August

Seed comments:

Herbaria:

Key words:

Alternate Genus:

Alternate Species:

Alternate Variety:

Remarks:
Propagation:
3 protocols in the Native Plant Network
cuttings, Glacier National Park, Montana
seed, Glacier National Park, Montana
University of Kentucky

Other propagation information:
Cold moist stratification may increase germination and shorten time (Nichols 1934).
Can be propagated vegetatively from rooted sections of the stolon or from hardwood cuttings.
Reproduces both sexually by seed and vegetatively by stolons.

Notes:

Recommended:

References:

Links:

Palouse Prairie Foundation plant database (under development)
Genus species: Common name: Match: Full Partial