Distribution: Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; Washington to California, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada.
Habitat: Deeper soils in sagebrush habitat.
Flowers: May-June
Origin: Native
Growth Duration: Perennial
Conservation Status: Not of concern
Perennial from a stout root, the several stems 1-4 dm. tall; herbage glabrous or appressed-pubescent.
Basal leaves petiolate, the blade elliptic to oblanceolate or lance-ovate, 2-15 cm. long and 0.7-6 cm. wide; cauline leaves well-developed, rather numerous, 2.5-7 times as long as wide, becoming sessile above.
Inflorescence congested, many-flowered, terminal; calyx 2.5-6 mm. long, cleft nearly to the base; corolla blue, 5-lobed, 1-2 cm. long, the tube 1.3 to 2 times as long as the slightly expanded limb; filaments broad, longer than the anthers; style equaling the corolla lobes; nutlets attached to the lower half of the style; hairy appendages opposite the corolla lobes at the top of the tube.
4 nutlets.
PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Mertensia foliosa in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database.
WA Flora Checklist: Mertensia foliosa checklist entry.
OregonFlora: Mertensia foliosa information.
E-Flora BC: Mertensia foliosa atlas page.
CalPhotos: Mertensia foliosa photos.
USDA Plants: Mertensia foliosa information.