Images: ©Jouko Lehmuskallio
Sheep’s-bit
Jasione montana
- Family: Bellflower Family – Campanulaceae
- Growing form: Biennial (rarely annual), latex-containing herb.
- Height: 10–50 cm (4–20 in.). Stem ascending–erect, branched, hairy, upper part leafless.
- Flower: Regular (actinomorphic), 5–10 mm (0.2–0.4 in.) long. Petals 5, pale blue, rarely pink or white, united in bud forming a straight tube, later separating starting at the base. Sepals 5, united, calyx-lobes bristle-like. Stamens 5. Pistil of 2 fused carpels. Inflorescence a dense, head-like umbel, surrounded by scale-like bracts at the base. Umbels alone at the end of long stems.
- Leaves: Alternate. Unstalked, linear or narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate, with entire or sparsely shallow-toothed, wavy margins.
- Fruit: A capsule splitting by two apical slits.
- Habitat: Rock outcrops, sandy places, hillsides.
- Flowering time: July–August.
The sheep’s-bit is an annual or biennial species which occurs on dry sunny rock outcrops and hillocks. At the first glance it looks like a composite (Asteraceae or Compositae) as the head-like inflorescence is subtended by one or several whorls of scale-like bracts. However, the inflorescence is a head-like umbel, rather than a true capitulum. In bud the long and slender petals of each flower form a straight tube. Later they separate starting at the base, and the flower opens. The style of the pistil is long, and the blue stigma is protruding. The sheep’s-bit is rare in Finland, and it is a protected species.
