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Frasera caroliniensis (American columbo)

Frasera caroliniensis

When it's flowering, American columbo is a real show stopper: the plant reaches as high as 6 feet, and flowerheads cascade from its apex. The flowers themselves are small but gorgeous, dotted with purple and adorned with fringed nectar pads. American columbo is found through much of the Midwest, in a zone from roughly St. Louis to Detroit, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh—often in oak-hickory woods, in open places with rich, sandy soil.

But here's the thing: the plant is monocarpic, which means it flowers only once in its lifetime, and then dies away. And it can take 15 or more years for an American columbo plant to flower! For most of its life, it exists as an earth-bound rosette of long, green leaves, appearing each year in spring and growing to a height of a foot or so. Then, after many years like this, it suddenly thrusts itself skyward in late spring or early summer, creating a flowering spectacle in a final burst of glory.

 

What it is that triggers the flowering is not known, and it is not known what constitutes a "normal" time period between seed germination and flowering. But the plant appears to flower in colonies, rather than individually and willy-nilly. So if you are lucky enough to find a flowering plant, you are likely to find more in the near vicinity.

More often, however, American columbo is found in its less impressive state, as a clump of leaves. It took 35 years for Americans to get sick of Columbo (which first aired in 1968 and left television in 2003); is it coincidence that American columbo might take just as long to flower?

Swertia caroliniensis is a former scientific name for this plant.

Range of Frasera caroliniensis

midwestern range


Frasera caroliniensis
American columbo in full bloom

 

Frasera caroliniensis
rosette of leaves

Frasera caroliniensis
young plant


Frasera caroliniensis
leaves are soft, dark green above and pale green below, with a prominent central vein


Frasera caroliniensis
the green stems develop purple colors; leaves are in whorls

 

Frasera caroliniensis
flower buds

 

Frasera caroliniensis
opening flowers


Frasera caroliniensis
seed pods replace flowers

 

Frasera caroliniensis
close-up of flower: note fringed nectar pads on the petals



Monument plant  (Frasera speciosa)


Frasera speciosa
monument plant just after flowering

 

Frasera speciosa
rosette of monument plant leaves



Western North America's monument plant (also known as green gentian) is closely related to American columbo. It appears on open slopes from about 6000 feet to treeline. Like its eastern counterpart it spends most of its life as a spreading rosette of long leaves, flowering only once in its life—but the waiting period for the monument plant is estimated at 20–80 years! Flowering monument plants can reach 7 feet in height, covering themselves with flowers similar to those of American columbo.



References: GN Jones 1971, Threadgill et al. 1981, RL Jones 2005, Smith et al. 2006, Kershaw 2007, Voss & Reznicek 2012, Heil et al. 2013; Mohlenbrock 2014, Ackerfield 2015; Hilty 2019, Schneider 2019, USDA 2019.



Kuo, Michael & Melissa Kuo (September, 2019). Frasera caroliniensis (American columbo). Retrieved from the midwestnaturalist.com website: www.midwestnaturalist.com/frasera_caroliniensis.html

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