MDC Staff
Shining Blue Star
Amsonia illustris
Other Common Name:
Ozark Bluestar
Family:
Apocynaceae (dogbanes)
Description:
Shining blue star is a striking, smooth perennial, branching and forming clumps. Flowers star-shaped, light blue, clustered in cymes at the tops of stems; the corolla lobes spreading; with a delicate scent. Blooms April–May. Leaves alternate, narrowly lance-shaped, to 6 inches long, leathery, shiny on the upper surfaces. Sap is milky. Fruits narrow seedpods that hang down, about 4 inches long.
Similar species: There are two other Amsonia species in Missouri. Ciliate blue star (A. ciliata) has very narrow, almost threadlike leaves and is uncommon, found in our southern Ozark counties along the Arkansas border. Willow amsonia (A. tabernaemontana), another blue star, has dull leaves (not shiny), and its seedpods are held upright. It is scattered mostly in the southern half of the state.
Size:
Height: 18 inches to 3 feet.
Shining Blue Star-20200520-181852.jpg
Shining Blue Star by the Little Dry Fork Creek in Phelps County
User submitted photo
Habitat and conservation:
Occurs on gravelly banks of streams and rivers, ledges and tops of bluffs, and occasionally glades and openings of dry upland forests. It is more commonly found in streamside, gravel-bar habitats than the closely related willow amsonia, which also lives in bottomland forests, dry upland forests, glades, bottomland prairies, pastures, ditches, levees, roadsides, and other disturbed areas.
Distribution in Missouri:
Scattered in the southern half of the state, mostly in the Ozark division.
Status:
Amsonias are related to the ubiquitous (and weedy) groundcover common periwinkle (Vinca minor), and to the fragrant tropical frangipani trees (Plumeria spp.). The dogbane family (Apocynaceae) to which these all belong is closely related to the milkweed family. You can see some resemblance in the milky latex, stout, simple leaves, and the seedpods (technically, follicles), which split along a single seam.
Human connections:
Easily grown from seed and available at most native plant nurseries, blue star makes an outstanding late-spring wildflower for sunny locations in moist, loamy, well-drained soils. In fall, the willow-like leaves often turn an attractive yellow.
Ecosystem connections:
Few animals, including insects, eat the leaves of this plant, probably because of unpalatable, toxic chemicals in the milky sap. The sweet-smelling flowers attract butterflies, however, especially the zebra swallowtail and other swallowtails.
Similar Species
Wild Hyacinth
Camassia scilloides
Indian Hemp (Dogbane)
Apocynum cannabinum
Blue-Eyed Grass
Sisyrinchium campestre
Celestial Lily
Nemastylis geminiflora
Clasping Venus’ Looking Glass
Triodanis perfoliata (formerly Specularia perfoliata)
Sand Phlox (Cleft Phlox)
Phlox bifida
Blue Phlox (Wild Sweet William)
Phlox divaricata
Wild Bergamot
Monarda fistulosa
About Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants in Missouri
A very simple way of thinking about the green world is to divide the vascular plants into two groups: woody and nonwoody (or herbaceous). But this is an artificial division; many plant families include some species that are woody and some that are not. The diversity of nonwoody vascular plants is staggering! Think of all the ferns, grasses, sedges, lilies, peas, sunflowers, nightshades, milkweeds, mustards, mints, and mallows — weeds and wildflowers — and many more!