Fringed bluestar

The Amsonia genus are flowering plants in the dogbane family. They are named in honor of an English physician and amateur botanist, John Amson. During the French and Indian War, General George Washington contracted an illness and was concerned it might be tuberculosis (then called consumption). Dr. Amson diagnosed him with having a cold and apparently gave him confidence he would improve. John Clayton, who authored the book Flora Virginica, named the genus Amsonia to honor Dr. Amson.

The term 'ciliate ' means fringed with hairs and refers to the fine hairs on the leaves.

The buds of Fringed Bluestar have a dark, slate blue base that contrasts beautifully with the pale blue tip. The flowers have 5 pale petals anchored to the dark blue base. The center of each flower is densely covered with fine, icy blue hairs. Flowering typically begins in April and ends early in May.

Amsonia ciliata forms a clump, growing about 2 feet tall.

The leaves are slender, alternate or nearly whorled. The flowers appear in clusters held above the leaves.

In autumn, the leaves turn deep yellow-gold. They are just beautiful, especially when lit by the afternoon sun.

The unripe seed pods are green, thin tubular structures held above the leaves. When ripe, they turn brown and begin to split. This is the perfect time to harvest seeds. The seed pods gradually open further spilling seed pellets around the mother plant. Each seed pod will contain numerous pellet shaped seeds.

The roots of Amsonia ciliata are able to traverse small fissures in the limestone traveling deep underground. Once established, they are long-lived, hardy, drought tolerant plants. Mature plants do not transplant well due to their deep roots and typical rocky habitat. They are best observed in place and not disturbed. On the other hand, the small first year plants can be successfully transplanted in fall or early spring.

Plants are easily started by collecting and sowing seed in containers or directly into their typical glade habitat. They often begin blooming in their second year.

Many different pollinators are attracted to the flowers of Amsonia ciliata. At any time you might see bees, butterflies, clearwing moths, skippers, wasps and more. Often there are multiple pollinators visiting the flowers at once. The video above shows a Snowberry clearwing moth gathering nectar. These fast flying moths hover over the flowers using their long proboscis to reach the nectar. In the process, pollen grains become attached to their proboscis and are transferred from one flower to another. Snowberry clearwings are efficient pollinators with the ability to visit many flowers and plants in a short time. Below is a video of a Zebra Swallowtail butterfly nectaring on Amsonia ciliata.

Look through the image gallery to see examples of other pollinators supported by this beautiful native wildflower.

Fringed bluestar is a tough, drought tolerant plant that thrives in the hot, rocky limestone glades of Arkansas in full sun to light shade.

Amsonia ciliata is native to 4 states west of the Mississippi River (Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas) and 5 states east of the Mississippi River (Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina). Natureserve lists it as Imperiled in Missouri and Apparently Secure in Georgia. Other states show No Status Rank.

Members of the Amsonia family are known to be host plants for the Snowberry clearwing moths. These fast and acrobatic flyers are frequent visitors of Amsonia ciliata.