Siskiyou bluecurls facts for kids

The Siskiyou bluecurls (scientific name: Trichostema simulatum) is a pretty flowering plant. It belongs to the mint family, just like the mint you might use in chewing gum! This plant is known for its lovely blue flowers.

You can find Siskiyou bluecurls growing in the western United States. It lives in the southern Cascade Range in northern California and southern Oregon. It also grows in the northern Sierra Nevada mountains in California.

This plant likes to grow in sunny, open spots. It often prefers sandy or gravelly ground. You can find it in Yellow pine forests and nearby areas. It grows at elevations from about 500 to 1,600 meters (about 1,600 to 5,200 feet) high.

What Does the Siskiyou Bluecurls Look Like?

The Siskiyou bluecurls plant is an annual herb. This means it grows from a seed, flowers, makes new seeds, and then dies all within one year. It can grow up to about 40 centimeters (16 inches) tall.

Its leaves have a nice smell, like other plants in the mint family. The whole plant is covered in tiny hairs. Some of these hairs are sticky, called glandular hairs. The leaves are shaped like a spearhead and are about 2 to 5 centimeters (1 to 2 inches) long.

Flowers and How They Grow

The flowers grow in a special arrangement called an inflorescence. This looks like a long cluster of flowers that grows up the stem. Each flower grows between a pair of leaves.

Each flower has a fuzzy green cup at its base. This cup is called a calyx, and it is made of small leaf-like parts called sepals. The flower itself is purple and shaped like a tube with two lips. The four long parts that stick out from the flower are called stamens. These stamens are curved, which gives the plant its "bluecurls" name!