Upright perennial that grows in clumps with green sword-shaped leaves and large, showy, lilac-blue flowers with pale throats.
Rhizomatous erect perennial, stems slender, simple or branched. Leaves basal, flat and smooth. Pale blue to lavender flowers terminal on stout stalks, tubular with short lobes. Seed capsules contain numerous brown wrinkled seeds.
Habitat
Wet meadows, streambanks, seeps, aspen woods, montane habitats.
Flower Characteristics
Flowers are pale blue to violet and streaked with white. The flowers are composed of 3 narrow, erect petals and 3 wider sepals that curve downward. Flowers are to 4 inches wide at the top of a stout, leafless stem. 1 to 4 flowers per stem.
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Green, sword-shaped leaves that grow in clumps. Leaves are basal and on the lower stems.
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
Capsule is 3-celled containing many seeds.
Seeds are obovate, dark to reddish brown and minutely wrinkled.