Fire severity
Tall bluebells is native to North America. It is distributed from Alaska east to Quebec and south to Wisconsin and Oregon. Disjunct populations of tall bluebells occur in Connecticut [1,26,37,70].
Distribution of varieties: Of the tall bluebells varieties, the typical variety is the most widespread. Its distribution is identical to that of the species. Alaska tall bluebells is limited to Alaska, Yukon, and Northwest Territory [37]. Northern bluebells occurs in northwestern Montana, adjacent Idaho, and British Columbia south to Washington and Oregon [30,37]. Eastwood's bluebells is present in Alaska and Northwest Territory [1,37]. Plants Database provides a distributional map of tall bluebells and its varieties.
Fire adaptations: Postfire regeneration for tall bluebells is mostly vegetative. Tall bluebells sprouts from surface or buried vegetative parts [72]. Buried rhizomes are most likely to sprout. Tall bluebells may also regenerate from off-site seed sources after fire. Neither seed dispersal nor seedling establishment is documented for tall bluebells, with or without fire. Further research is needed on tall bluebells's fire ecology.
FIRE REGIMES: The white-black spruce boreal forest ecosystems where tall bluebells most commonly occurs are susceptible to frequent (35-200 years), stand-replacing fires because of the accumulation of large amounts of highly flammable organic matter. Tall bluebells is also common in quaking aspen-dominated boreal forest ecosystems that are characteristic of a mixed-severity fire regime [20].
The following table provides fire return intervals for plant communities and ecosystems where tall bluebells is important. For further information, see the FEIS review of the dominant species listed below.
Community or Ecosystem Dominant Species Fire Return Interval Range (years) grand fir Abies grandis 35-200 [3] birch Betula spp. 80-230 [65] tamarack Larix laricina 35-200 [53] Great Lakes spruce-fir Picea-Abies spp. 35 to >200 [20] Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir Picea engelmannii-Abies lasiocarpa 35 to >200 [3] black spruce P. mariana 35-200 conifer bog* P. mariana-Larix laricina 35-200 [20] jack pine Pinus banksiana <35 to 200 [14,20] Rocky Mountain lodgepole pine* P. contorta var. latifolia 25-340 [6,7,66] Sierra lodgepole pine* P. contorta var. murrayana 35-200 western white pine* P. monticola 50-200 [3] aspen-birch Populus tremuloides-Betula 35-200 [20,71] quaking aspen (west of the Great Plains) P. tremuloides 7-120 [3,27,49] Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir* Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca 25-100 [3,4,5] coastal Douglas-fir* P. menziesii var. menziesii 40-240 [3,51,58] western redcedar-western hemlock Thuja plicata-Tsuga heterophylla >200 [3] *fire return interval varies widely; trends in variation are noted in the species reviewThere is little documentation of tall bluebell use by animals. It is a main component of the snowshoe hare summer diet in Yukon Territory [29], a known grizzly bear food plant in southern Canada and the conterminous 48 United States [16], and an important species for elk in the summer in northern Idaho [45].
Palatability/nutritional value: No information is available on this topic.
Cover value: No information is available on this topic.
balsam fir-cottonwood/prickly rose (Abies balsamea-Populus spp./Rosa acicularis)/tall
bluebells phase of the white spruce-fir (Picea glauca-Abies spp.) community type
prickly rose-red currant/naked miterwort (Ribes triste/Mitella nuda)-tall bluebells phase
of the black spruce (P. mariana) community type
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY [62]:
Rhizomatous herb, rhizome in soil
Caudex/herbaceous root crown, growing points in soil
Geophyte, growing points deep in soil
Secondary colonizer (on-site or off-site seed sources)
FIRE REGIMES: Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under "Find FIRE REGIMES"
Tall bluebells regenerates mostly by vegetative means [29,38]. Morris [50] states that tall bluebells is "clonal, but nonspreading". Tall bluebells reproduces from ramets that typically remain tightly clustered around the parent plant, possibly limiting clonal spreading [18,29]. Hicks and Turkington [29] mention sprouting from rhizomes. Mann and Plug [47] state that excavated tall bluebell individuals were spreading laterally by adventitious roots, and it is on this basis that they inferred its capability to reproduce by sprouting. It is also likely that tall bluebells regenerates from seed. Further research is needed on the regeneration of tall bluebells from seed.
Pollination: Bumble bees are the only documented pollinator of tall bluebells [46,50].
Breeding system: No information is available on this topic.
Seed production: Each flower may produce up to 4 single-seeded nutlets [50].
Seed dispersal: No information is available on this topic.
Seed banking: Soil excavated from a tussock tundra site at Eagle Creek, Alaska, was tested in the laboratory for viable seeds. Tall bluebells was part of the aboveground tundra vegetation but did not germinate in the laboratory [48], suggesting either that it does not have a great capacity for seed banking or that its germination requirements were not met during testing.
Germination: No information is available on this topic.
Seedling establishment/growth: No information is available on this topic.
Vegetative regeneration: Tall bluebells regenerates vegetatively from rhizomes [29].
Tall bluebells is a shade tolerant species [38,44] that occurs in early and late-seral communities. Although generally most common in mid-succession, it has been observed in early successional boreal communities in Alaska and Canada after fire, clearcutting, and logging/burning [15,24,57,59,63]. Mean frequency and cover of tall bluebells was greatest on newly burned white spruce stands in Alaska, and tall bluebells maintained mean frequency and cover throughout all other stages of succession [24].
Tall bluebells is often present in early seral stages and increases in frequency and cover over time. Average percent cover of tall bluebells increased, though not significantly (P=0.516), within a regenerating quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) stand in Alberta 3, 5, 9, and 20 years after clearcutting. Percent cover was 1%, 2%, 1%, and 4%, respectively [63]. On 18- and 19-year-old black spruce plantations, tall bluebells had mean relative frequency of 3%. Twenty years later at the same site, mean relative frequency was 39% [35]. Tall bluebells was not present in the pioneer stage (25 to 35 years) on gravel outwash from the Muldrow Glacier in Alaska. Cover and frequency increased throughout the meadow (100 years after glacial scour), early shrub (150-200 years), and late shrub (200-300 years) stages, with the greatest tall bluebells cover and frequency during the latter. There was no evidence of tall bluebells in climax tundra (5,000-9,000 years) [68]. Tall bluebells percent frequency and cover increased through the 1st 3 stages of succession recorded for the Chena River floodplain near Fairbanks, Alaska, but tall bluebells was not present in later successional and climax communities. Percent frequency and cover for tall bluebells are provided below [69].
Successional stage Percent frequency Percent cover 15-year-old Alaska willow (Salix alaxensis) stand 10 <1 50-year-old balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera) stand 20 1 120-year-old white spruce stand 40 2 220-year-old white spruce-black spruce stand 0 0 climax black spruce/sphagnum (Sphagnum spp.) stand 0 0The scientific name of tall bluebells is Mertensia paniculata (Ait.) G.
Don (Boraginaceae) [11,19,26,30,34,37,41,70]. There are currently 4
recognized varieties of tall bluebells. Throughout this review, varieties will be
identified by their common names.
Mertensia paniculata var. alaskana (Britt.) Williams [1,34], Alaska tall bluebells
Mertensia paniculata var. borealis (Macbr.) Williams [9,30,31,42], northern bluebells
Mertensia paniculata var. eastwoodae (Macbr.) Hultén [34], Eastwood's bluebells
Mertensia paniculata var. paniculata [30,34], tall bluebells (typical variety)