Collinsia heterophylla

Collinsia heterophylla, known as purple Chinese houses<ref>Template:PLANTS</ref> or innocence, is a flowering plant native to California and the Peninsular Ranges in northern Baja California.<ref name=itis/>

Description

Collinsia heterophylla is an annual plant growing in shady places, Template:Convert in height. It can be found in most of California (other than desert regions) below about Template:Convert.

It blooms from mid spring to early summer. Like other species in the genus Collinsia, which also includes the blue-eyed Marys, it gets its name from its towers of inflorescences of decreasing diameter, which give the plants in full flower a certain resemblance to a pagoda.

Dried in air, the seeds weigh about 1 mg each.

Varieties

• Collinsia heterophylla var. austromontana<ref>USDA: Collinsia heterophylla var. austromontana</ref>
• Collinsia heterophylla var. heterophylla<ref>USDA: Collinsia heterophylla var. heterophylla</ref>

Taxonomy

The species was first described as Collinsia bicolor by George Bentham in 1835, but this name proved to be a later homonym of Collinsia bicolor Raf. (described in 1824), necessitating the name change to C. heterophylla. Despite this, the name C. bicolor is still sometimes used in references.<ref>USDA: Classification (taxonomy)</ref>

Gallery

• Collinsia heterophylla is also known by the common name Chinese Houses.
  Collinsia heterophylla is also known by the common name Chinese Houses.
• Pressed and dried Collinsia heterophylla in an herbarium.
  Pressed and dried Collinsia heterophylla in an herbarium.
• Collinsia heterophylla blossoms on a stalk.
  Collinsia heterophylla blossoms on a stalk.

External links

• Jepson Manual treatment of Collinsia heterophylla
• Collinsia heterophylla — photographs from the CalPhotos archive

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