Plant Species: Lithospermum ruderale, Columbia puccoon
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicotyledons
Order: Lamiales
Family: Boraginaceae -- borage
Genus: Lithospermum
Species: ruderale
Common Name: Columbia puccoon, western gromwell, western stoneseed, cat’s tooth, lemonweed.
Species Code: LIRU4
Origin: Native to dry, open places from sagebrush steppe to grasslands to open forests of southern British Columbia to northern California and east to Colorado and Montana.
Rare: no
Form: forb, perennial from a woody taproot or caudex; stems clustered, mostly simple, 20-60 cm tall, strigose to spreading-hirsute.
Mature height: 8-24 inches
Duration: perennial
Longevity: long-lived
Habitat Type: prairie
Wetland Indicator Status: not listed
Leaves: alternate, numerous, all cauline, the lower ones reduced, others sessile, lanceolate to linear, entire, 3-10 cm long.
Flowers: borne in leafy axillary clusters on the upper stem; calyx deeply cleft, campanulate, hispid; corolla pale yellow, usually tinged with green, 8-13 mm long overall, throat 4-6 mm long, glandular within, the 5 lobes generally entire.
Flower color: yellow
Bloom: April, May, June
Bloom starts on: late April
Bloom ends on: late June
Fruit: nutlet ovoid, smooth, white to light grey, shiny, 3.5-6(8) mm long, usually only 1 or 2 of the four developing.
Vegetation type:
Characteristics:
Reproduces sexually by seed.
230,000 seeds/lb (USDA NRCS Plants Database 2009).
Perennating organ is a woody taproot.
2n=24 (Baldwin et al 2004).
Flowers are perfect.
Fruit is a nutlet.
Roots were used both as food and medicinally but contain toxic alkaloids.
Rocky Mountain elk make minor use of the plants in the winter (Kufeld 1973).
Comments:
Sun requirement: full sun
Soil moisture: xeric
Precipitation: 8-18 inches (USDA NRCS PLANTS Database 2009).
Fire:
Hazards:
Sowing time: fall
Transplant time: spring
Stratification: cold moist
Seed yield: medium
Seed harvest: difficult
Seed first harvest: 2-3 years
Seed cleaning: easy
Planting duration: long
Seed insect problem: none noted
Seed shatter: medium
Seed size: large
Seed harvest date: Aug
Seed comments: low germination
Key words: native perennial upland forb
Alternate Genus:
Alternate Species:
Propagation:
1 protocol in the Native Plant Network
Rocky Mountain Research Station, Boise, Idaho
Other Propagation Information:
4 weeks cold moist stratification, then 20oC in dark (Maguire & Overland 1959).
Seeds germinate fairly well despite hardness (Kruckeberg 1996).
Reproduces sexually by seed.
Notes: Lithospermum ruderale is often pretty scraggly in the wild, but can be an attractive plant in an ornamental setting. It is a member of the Borage family and has the typical irritating hairs of many borages. Difficult to grow from seed. Flowers are small and pale yellow, opening in May, not very showy. The plant has an interesting color and form and the seeds are very hard, white nutlets. Common names include western gromwell, Columbia puccoon, cat’s tooth, lemonweed (Skinner et al 2005).
References:
Baldwin, B.G., S. Boyd, B.J. Ertter, D.J. Keil, R.W. Patterson, T.J. Rosatti, and D.H. Wilken (eds). 2004. Jepson Online Interchange for California Floristics. University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley, CA. Accessed 11/9/09 online at http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/interchange.html
Kufeld, Roland. 1973. Foods Eaten by the Rocky Mountain Elk. Journal of Range Management 26:106-113.
Kruckeberg, Arthur R. 1996. Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press. Seattle, WA.
Maguire, James D. and Alvin Overland. 1959. Laboratory Germination of Seeds of Weedy and Native Plants. Washington State Agricultural Experiment Station Circular 349, Pullman, WA. 15 p.
Skinner, David M., Paul Warnick, Bill French, and Mary Fauci. 2005. More Palouse Forbs for Landscaping. Palouse Prairie Foundation. Online at http://www.wsu.edu/pmc_nrcs/Docs/More_Forbs_for_Landscaping.pdf
USDA NRCS. 2009. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 9 November 2009). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.