Southern Stoneseed - Lithospermum tuberosum

 

Thanks to my brilliant naturalist friend, Lily Byrd, I have the photos of this wonderful wildflower to share with all of you. Southern stoneseed or tuberous gromwell (Lithospermum tuberosum) is a native member of the borage family and found sporadically in nine counties in north-central Florida.  It is a perennial that dies back to the ground each winter and emerges in early spring from a very thickened tap root as a set of "hairy" basal leaves. It is a common wildflower of the Piedmont region of Georgia to the Carolinas and north to Virginia and extends west to east Texas. In this region, it is most common in the understory of rich deciduous woodlands.

The flower stalks emerge in mid-spring and can reach a mature height of about 2 feet. The leaves along these stems are much reduced in size, but remain elliptical in shape and alternate on the stems. Flowering occurs from mid-March to early June in Florida. It has the typical borage inflorescence - flowers open in sequence along a flower stalk that curves as it grows. The individual flowers are a light lemon yellow in color and decidedly tubular in shape.  I have not seen pollinators using it firsthand, but suspect that they are favored by a variety of bees while the woodland canopy remains open - like other borage species.

Southern stoneseed has never been propagated for sale by any of the nurseries affiliated with FANN - the Florida Association of Native Nurseries, to the best of my knowledge. It would be an interesting plant to add to a deciduous woodland planting in north to central Florida, but that would have to wait for someone to propagate it. I do not grow it here at Hawthorn Hill.  For now, we must simply admire it if we are lucky enough to come across it while hiking in those counties where it does occur.