Tall Lungwort (Blue Bells)
Mertensia paniculata
Pollinator plant

(c) Connie Taylor, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Connie Taylor
Growing it
| When | Flowers June to July |
|---|---|
| Type | wildflower |
| Sun | Partial shade, full shade |
| Water | Medium, high |
| Soil | pH 5.5–7 |
| Hardiness | zone 2–6 |
| Mature height | 0.8 m |
| Mature spread | 0.6 m |
| Spacing | 0.4 m |
| Years to maturity | 2 |
| Bloom | Jun–Jul |
| Flower colour | Blue read from a published flora |
| In bloom | June July |
| Native to | AB, SK |
egg-shaped leaves about 12 cm long
Where it has been recorded
Which ecoregions the records fall in
- Aspen Parkland central AB / SK: 853 records, high confidence
- Western Alberta Upland central AB: 685 records, high confidence
- Mid-Boreal Uplands central AB / SK: 298 records, high confidence
- Boreal Transition central AB / SK: 286 records, high confidence
- Eastern Continental Ranges central AB: 205 records, high confidence
- Northern Continental Divide south AB: 86 records, high confidence
- Peace Lowland north AB: 77 records, high confidence
- Wabasca Lowland north AB: 41 records, high confidence
- Fescue Grassland south AB: 22 records, high confidence
- Western Boreal central AB: 16 records, medium confidence
- Clear Hills Upland north AB: 6 records, low confidence
- Churchill River Upland north SK: 5 records, low confidence
- Mid-Boreal Lowland central SK: 4 records, low confidence
These are counts of records collected somewhere in the region, which is the resolution of the evidence: the map above shows where inside it. A region with 3 records is not the same claim as one with three hundred, so the count travels with the region. A region missing from this list means nobody has recorded it there, which is not the same as the plant being absent. Records within 900 m of a border count for neither side, because the border is not drawn finely enough to say which one they are on. Source: GBIF occurrence search + PRESERVED_SPECIMEN pass, retrieved 2026-08-24. Boundaries digitised from the National Ecological Framework for Canada v2.2 (Ecological Stratification Working Group 1995), simplified to about 900 m for display: an outline is accurate to roughly a kilometre, not to the metre. How these counts are made.
See every observation, live and current, on GBIF or iNaturalist.
Documented animals
6 documented relationships.
nectar for
- Brown-tailed Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
- Central Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
- Hummingbird Clearwing Moth Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
- Osmia pentstemonis Specimen records from ecdysis.org
- Two-ranked Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
- Yellow-fronted Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Also worth knowing
Safety
Toxicity not assessed, absence of a warning is not a guarantee of safety
Edible parts
Leaves?, flowers?
Buying it
About $8–$16 per plant (estimate), usually stocked by garden centres. Estimate (herb default); AB retail as of 2026
Where these numbers came from
- Flower detail: not verified, a genus-level estimate