Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants

Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicotyledons

Order: Scrophulariales

Family: Scrophulariaceae -- figwort

Variety: see below

Common Name: mountain kittentails, tailed kittentails

Species Code: SYMI

Origin: Native to moist forests of western North America from the Columbia River gorge and southeast Washington south to northern California and east to western Montana.

Rare: no

Form: forb, perennial from a short thick rhizome, 10-60 cm tall, usually pubescent in the inflorescence, glabrous otherwise; stem scapose.

Mature height: 4-24 inches

Duration: perennial

Habitat Type: forest

Wetland Indicator Status: not listed

Leaves: all basal, long petiolate, suborbicular to reniform, cordate, glabrous, 2.5-8 cm long and nearly as wide, palmately veined, margins doubly dentate or sometimes shallowly lobed.

Flowers: borne in an accrescent raceme; corolla 4-7 mm long, blue, the 4 lobes spreading, longer than the tube, entire or erose; sepals 4, 3-4 mm long, linear to oblong, free nearly to the base; stamens exserted.

Flower color: blue/purple

Bloom: April, May, later at higher elevations in the mountains

Bloom starts on: mid April

Bloom ends on: early May

Fruit: capsule suborbicular, 5-7 mm tall and about as wide; seeds 1-1.6 mm long, flat, notched, brown.

Characteristics:
Reproduces both sexually by seed and vegetatively by rhizomes.
Davis (1952) recognized var. major as larger plants with longer flowers and white pubescence in the rachis and pedicels. Hitchcock et al (1969) mentions that those plants perhaps deserve recognition as a variety, but does not do so. The PLANTS Database (USDA NRCS 2009) only recognizes var. missurica in our area, making no mention of var. major.
It has been proposed to move Synthris from Scrophulariaceae to Plantaginaceae.
2n=24 (Baldwin et al 2004).
Flowers are perfect.
Fruit is a capsule.

Comments: St. John (1963) recognized S. missurica forma rosea as differing from the species by having "salmon pink" corollas. Other authors, including Hitchcock et al (1969), do not recognize it as a seperate infraspecific taxon.

Sun requirement: tolerates at least partial shade

Soil moisture: mesic

Sowing time: probably should be fall sown

Transplant time: fall

Stratification: no information is available

Seed yield: no information is available

Seed harvest: no information is available

Seed first harvest: no information is available

Seed cleaning: no information is available

Planting duration: no information is available

Seed insect problem: no information is available

Seed shatter: no information is available

Seed size: medium

Seed harvest date: no information is available

Herbaria: Specimen data and digital resources from The Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria

Keywords: native upland perennial forest forb

Propagation:
Reproduces both sexually by seed and vegetatively by rhizomes.
No other information is available.

Notes: An excellent plant for landscaping and commercial production. Blooms in early spring with crocus and daffodils. Needs some shade (Idaho Native Plant Society 1999).

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 11/26/09 online at http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/interchange.html

Davis, Ray J. 1952. Flora of Idaho. Wm. C. Brown, Dubuque, Iowa. 827 pp.

Hitchcock, C. Leo, Arthur Cronquist, Marion Ownbey, and J.W. Thompson. 1969. Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press. Seattle, WA. 5 vol.

Hufford, Larry. 1992. Floral Structure of Besseya and Synthyris (Scrophulariaceae). International Journal of Plant Sciences 153:217-229.

Idaho Native Plant Society. 1999. Native Plants of Northern Idaho for Landscaping and Restoration. INPS White Pine Chapter. Moscow, ID. Online at http://www.idahonativeplants.org/guides/NorthIdahoGuide.aspx

St. John, Harold. 1963. Flora of Southeastern Washington and of Adjacent Idaho. 3rd edition. Outdoor Pictures. Escondido, CA.

USDA NRCS. 2009. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 26 November 2009). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Links:
Plant Profile from the USDA PLANTS Database
Species information from the University of Washington Herbarium