Collinsia is a genus of about 20 species of annual flowering plants in the family Plantaginaceae, order Lamiales. Collectively known as blue eyed Marys and Chinese houses, all members are native to North America, with the greatest diversity in California. The genus was described by Thomas Nuttall in 1817, published in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
Plants in the genus are annuals or winter-annuals, typically bearing opposite cauline leaves with the uppermost leaves often arranged in whorls. The flowers are distinctively bilabiate (two-lipped): the calyx is campanulate with lobes longer than the tube, while the corolla has a swollen upper side near the base. The lower lip is deflexed and its median lobe is folded into a longitudinal pouch that encloses the four fertile stamens; a fifth stamen is vestigial. Flowers are often bicolored and arranged in whorls of two to eight at upper stem nodes. Fruits are septicidal capsules with few seeds, convex on one surface.
Collinsia was formerly placed in the snapdragon family Scrophulariaceae, but molecular phylogenetic studies led to its transfer into the enlarged Plantaginaceae. The genus is named in honor of Zacchaeus Collins, a Philadelphia botanist active in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century.
Etymology
The genus name Collinsia honors Zacchaeus Collins (1764–1831), a Philadelphia botanist and vice-president of the Academy of Natural Sciences who was active in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The genus was formally described and named by the English-American botanist Thomas Nuttall in 1817, in the first volume of the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
Distribution
Collinsia is endemic to North America. The genus reaches its greatest diversity in California, where the majority of species occur. Approximately 17 species are recognized in temperate North America in classical treatments (Gleason & Cronquist), while broader surveys document up to 34 named taxa. A small number of species extend east across the continent — notably Collinsia verna, which ranges through eastern North America — and a few occur in the Pacific Northwest and intermountain West.
Ecology
All members of the genus are annuals or winter-annuals, completing their life cycle within a single growing season or overwintering as seedlings before flowering in spring. Flowers are arranged in whorls along the upper stem and are typically bicolored, a trait that facilitates interactions with pollinators. The specialized lower-lip pouch that encloses the stamens is adapted for pollen presentation and pickup by visiting insects.
Cultural uses
At least two species in the genus have documented medicinal uses among Native American peoples. Collinsia parviflora (smallflower blue eyed Mary) and Collinsia violacea (violet blue eyed Mary) were used medicinally by American Indian communities. Specific preparations and applications are recorded in ethnobotanical literature, though genus-level sources do not detail them further.
Taxonomy notes
Collinsia Nutt. (ITIS TSN 33513; GBIF usageKey 3171755) is accepted in the family Plantaginaceae, order Lamiales. The genus was originally described in the family Scrophulariaceae, but comprehensive molecular phylogenetic research demonstrated that the traditional Scrophulariaceae was polyphyletic; Collinsia was transferred to the greatly enlarged Plantaginaceae as part of this revision. The genus contains approximately 20 accepted species according to ITIS, with GBIF recording 52 total descendant taxa (including infraspecific ranks and synonyms).
