About Heterocodon rariflorum Nutt.
Heterocodon is a monotypic genus of plants in the bellflower family, which contains only one species: Heterocodon rariflorum Nutt. This species is commonly known as rareflower heterocodon and western pearlflower. It is native to western North America, ranging from British Columbia through California to Colorado, where it grows in wet habitats such as meadows, emerging during the spring. This species is an annual herb that grows a very thin, erect stem reaching a maximum height of 30 centimeters. The stem rarely branches, if at all, and ranges in color from dark green to reddish. Leaves grow sporadically along the stem, are heart-shaped to rounded, and have toothed edges. Flowers also grow at intervals along the stem, emerging from a base of toothed or spiny, leaf-like sepals that are a few millimeters long. The flower's corolla forms a cylindrical tube 3 to 5 millimeters long, is blue or lavender with darker veining and a lighter-colored throat, and spreads out into triangular lobes at its opening.
