Eastern bluestar
EASTERN BLUESTAR Amsonia tabernaemontana Walter Dogbane Family (Apocynaceae) Submitted by Roger Hammer Eastern Bluestar, Rover Hammer, roadside ditch along SR65 near Apalachicola. This perennial wildflower reaches 3' tall with smooth stems and lanceolate to elliptic leaves from 3–4" long and ¾"–1" wide (the uppermost leaves are sessile). It can form large, multi-stemmed clumps and is easy to see when in flower. Pale blue, ¾", star-shaped flowers are in terminal clusters. Flowering season begins in March and lasts into August so look for it in the floodplain forests of the Florida panhandle east to Columbia, Alachua, and Levy Counties. It ranges across the eastern United States to Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, and is on its southern range extension in Florida.