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Mertensia ciliata

Common names: tall bluebells, tall-fringed bluebell, tall fringed bluebell, blue bell, mountain blue bells, blue bells, Mountain bluebell, Mountain bluebells, bluebell

Authority: James ex Torr.) G. Don

Taxonomy: Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Boraginales > Boraginaceae

Regional status: native

Roles: study subject, vegetation component, host plant, comparison species, indicator species, mentioned, habitat plant, habitat component, nectar source, referenced, food source

ITIS TSN: 31668

Synonyms: M. ciliata, Meci, MECI, Mertensia ciliata, M. fusiformis, Mertensia, bluebells

External: RMBL Collections · iNaturalist · iDigBio · GenBank

Papers: 96 | Mentions: 120

Local Knowledge Graph (Top 81 entities)

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Publications (101)

student_paper

A Hard Day’s Buzz: how water availability shapes floral rewards and pollinator foraging on Heliomeris multiflora

2026Role: comparison species (referenced

student_paper

Picky eater? How different environmental factors affect broad-tailed hummingbirds’ (Selasphorus platycercus) foraging patterns in the Rocky Mountains

2025Role: text_match

student_paper

Picky eater? How different environmental factors affect broad-tailed hummingbirds’ (Selasphorus platycercus) foraging patterns in the Rocky Mountains

2025Role: habitat component

student_paper

Quantifying ethanol in bumble bee honey and Colorado rocky mountain wildflowers

2025Role: nectar source

student_paper

The impact of soil moisture, nectar production, and spectral reflectance on hummingbird visitation patterns to the Scarlet Gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata)

2025Role: text_match

student_paper

The impact of soil moisture, nectar production, and spectral reflectance on hummingbird visitation patterns to the Scarlet Gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata)

2025Role: habitat component

student_paper

Elucidating the influence of a nectar yeast and nectar robbing on bumblebee foraging tactic constancy

2024Role: text_match

Documents (6)

technical report

A Classification of the Riparian Vegetation of the Gunnison River Basin, Colorado

technical report

A Classification of the Riparian Vegetation of the Gunnison River Basin, Colorado

technical report

Wetlands of the Crested Butte Region

Co-occurring Species

Mertensia

Boraginaceae108 shared papers

Delphinium

Ranunculaceae71 shared papers

Delphinium barbeyi

Ranunculaceae66 shared papers

Ipomopsis aggregata

Polemoniaceae60 shared papers

Potentilla

Rosaceae48 shared papers

Bombus

Apidae46 shared papers

Delphinium nuttallianum

Ranunculaceae39 shared papers

Castilleja

Orobanchaceae37 shared papers

Erigeron

Asteraceae35 shared papers

Taraxacum officinale

Asteraceae34 shared papers

student_paper

The Impact of Delphinium nuttallianum and Ipomopsis aggregata Phenology on Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) Visitation Patterns

2024Role: indicator species

Mertensia ciliata

Local Knowledge Graph (Top 81 entities)

Publications (101)

A Hard Day’s Buzz: how water availability shapes floral rewards and pollinator foraging on Heliomeris multiflora

Picky eater? How different environmental factors affect broad-tailed hummingbirds’ (Selasphorus platycercus) foraging patterns in the Rocky Mountains

Picky eater? How different environmental factors affect broad-tailed hummingbirds’ (Selasphorus platycercus) foraging patterns in the Rocky Mountains

Quantifying ethanol in bumble bee honey and Colorado rocky mountain wildflowers

The impact of soil moisture, nectar production, and spectral reflectance on hummingbird visitation patterns to the Scarlet Gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata)

The impact of soil moisture, nectar production, and spectral reflectance on hummingbird visitation patterns to the Scarlet Gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata)

Elucidating the influence of a nectar yeast and nectar robbing on bumblebee foraging tactic constancy

Documents (6)

A Classification of the Riparian Vegetation of the Gunnison River Basin, Colorado

A Classification of the Riparian Vegetation of the Gunnison River Basin, Colorado

Biologically Significant Areas in Gunnison County Colorado

Riparian Assessment USDA NRCS Bozeman, Montana

The Colorado Division of Wildlife Wetlands Program

Wetlands of the Crested Butte Region

Co-occurring Species

Mertensia

Delphinium

Delphinium barbeyi

Ipomopsis aggregata

Potentilla

Bombus

Delphinium nuttallianum

Castilleja

Erigeron

Taraxacum officinale

The Impact of Delphinium nuttallianum and Ipomopsis aggregata Phenology on Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) Visitation Patterns

The Impact of Delphinium nuttallianum and Ipomopsis aggregata Phenology on Broad tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) Visitation Patterns

Current and lagged climate affects phenology across diverse taxonomic groups

Earlier snow melt and reduced summer precipitation alter floral traits important to pollination

Effects of nestling begging behavior on parental food provisioning in the Mountain White-crowned Sparrow

Experimental Test of the Combined Effects of Water Availability and Flowering Time on Pollinator Visitation and Seed Set

Birds Perceive More Intraspecific Color Variation in Bird-Pollinated Than Bee-Pollinated Flowers

Bumble bees are constant to nectar-robbing behaviour despite low switching costs

Competition for nectar resources does not affect bee foraging tactic constancy

Low predictability of energy balance traits and leaf temperature metrics in desert, montane and alpine plant communities

Pollinator visitation rate and effectiveness vary with flowering phenology

Quantifying Nectar Trait Responses to Natural Variation in Water Availability in Subalpine Plant Communities

Adaptation and diversification of bluebells <i>Mertensia</i> spp., Boranginaceae

Adaptation and diversification of bluebells <i>Mertensia</i> spp., Boranginaceae

Effect of blood parasites on incubation efficiency of <i>Z. l. oriantha</i> in the Colorado Rocky Mountains

Floral reward strategies, visitor behavior, and plant reproductive outcomes

Intraspecific flower color variation along elevation gradients

Quantifying Nectar Resources in Bumble Bee Visited Plants

The depredation of Mountain White-crowned Sparrow (<i>Zonotrichia leucophyrys oriantha</i>) nests by the golden-mantled ground squirrel (<i>Callospermophilus lateralis</i>) and long-tailed weasel (<i>Mustela frenata</i>)

Can Variation of Insect Populations Affect Mountain White-crowned Sparrow Daily Nest Survival?

Characterizing nectar content in wet and dry subalpine meadows during an extreme summer drought

Effect of blood parasites on secondary sexual characteristics and morphology in mountain white-crowned sparrows

First-order controls of soil and leaf moisture

Why are some plant-nectar robber interactions commensalisms?

Does bumble bee (<i>Bombus spp.</i>) diet breadth vary with differences in floral resource abundance?

Effects of Life History Traits in the Mountain White-Crowned Sparrow During Incubation

Plant-Pollinator Interactions and Environmental Change: Effects of Experimental Changes in Phenology and Water Availability on a Montane Wildflower

Plant-Pollinator Interactions and Environmental Change: Effects of Experimental Changes in Phenology and Water Availability on a Montane Wildflower

Shifts in water availability mediate plantâ€“pollinator interactions

Variation in bill morphology and pollen prevalence in the Broad-Tailed Hummingbird (<i>Selasphorus platycercus</i>)

Assessing pollinatorsâ€™ contribution to the reproductive success of <i>Mertensia ciliata</i>

Bill Morphology and Niche Partitioning in <i>Selasphorus platycercus</i>

Effects of climate change on phenologies and distributions of bumble bees and the plants they visit

Frost sensitivity of leaves and flowers of subalpine plants is related to tissue type and phenology.

Temperature and Nestling Development: Temporal Variations in <i>Zonotrichia leucophrys oriantha</i> Feeding Frequency

Temporal ecology of a subalpine ecosystem: Plant communities, plant-pollinator interactions, & climate change.

The Changing Floral Color Landscape Across an Alpine Elevation Gradient

Effects of Alpine Shrub Cover on Territorial Male White-Crown Sparrows Densities.

Why doesn't nectar robbing decrease seed set in some bee-pollinated plants?

Why doesn't nectar robbing decrease seed set in some bee-pollinated plants?

Frost Sensitivity of Subalpine Plants in the Colorado Rocky Mountains: The Effects of Seasonality, Water Content, and Phylogeny

Revisiting Darwin's hypothesis: Does greater intraspecific variability increase species' ecological breadth?

Stimulation of flower nectar replenishment by removal: a survey of eleven animal-pollinated plant species

Measuring the influence of phylogenetic relationships on floral visitation

Phenology: An Integrative Environmental Science

"With a little help from my friends": Phylogenetic distance as a predictor of floral visitation in the plant communities of Gothic, CO.

Local geographic distributions of bumble bees near Crested Butte, Colorado: Competition and community structure revisited

Intraspecific variation of specific leaf area along an elevational gradient

Seasonal change in a pollinator community and the maintenance of style length variation in Mertensia fusiformis (Boraginaceae)

Spatial distribution of mule deer (<i>Odocoileus hemionus</i>): Effects of plant palatability and habitat structure

Changes in snowmelt date and summer precipitation affect the flowering phenology of <i>Erythronium grandiflorum</i> (Glacier Lily; Liliaceae)

Consequences of variation in flowering time within and among individuals of <i>Mertensia fusiformis</i> (Boraginaceae), an early spring wildflower