Lisianthus

With spring well underway, we recently replanted the Flight Encounter to give the butterflies and their visitors some new blooms. One of the plants we added this year is Lisianthus, a wildflower native to the American prairies in places like Colorado. Their nectar value for butterflies has proven negligible so far, but the beautiful flowers themselves are a treat for visitors.

The rose-like shape of this wildflower is rather unexpected, since that category usually leads you to think of carefree daisies and rampant goldenrod. But all flowers are native to somewhere, and most of the varieties you buy in nurseries have been hybridized and cross-bred to produce high-blooming plants that are easy to take care of. The cultivated Lisianthus that has appeared on the market in recent years is a good example of this. In the wild, Lisianthus flowers are always blue, but selective breeding and hybridization has allowed growers to create blooms in shades of white, pink, and purple as well.

In Florida, Lisianthus is probably best grown as a potted plant. It's notoriously difficult to start from seed, so unless you're very patient, seek out established nursery plants. They require part shade (or the kind of filtered sunlight a screened-in porch provides) and regular water for best blooms, but they won't tolerate soggy soil. They are also fairly finicky about soil pH and can be susceptible to pests and fungus. If you're having trouble with your Lisianthus, click here for a good guide to growing them successfully.

What's In a Name? The botanical name for this plant is Eustoma russellianum. Eustoma can be broken into two parts "eu" (good) and "stoma" (mouth), which refers to the big corolla, or throat, of the blooms. Russellianum indicates the plant was discovered by or named in honor of John Russell (1766 - 1839), 6th Duke of Bedford and botanist. Lisianthus was a previous botanical name of the plant; it means "bitter flower" and is still in common use today.