Azure Bluets

Houstonia caerulea

Pollinator Value

🐝 Specialist Bee Host: Pseudopanurgus virginicus
S17 specialist on Houstonia

Proximity Score: 2
Native Status: ✅ Outaouais ❌ Ottawa ✅ QC ✅ ON
Closest Direction: SE
CEC Eco-Regions: 5 – Northern Forests, 5.3 – Atlantic Highlands, 5.3.1 – Northern Appalachians and Atlantic Maritime Highlands
Rarity Notes: Ranked S3 (Vulnerable) in Quebec and SH (Historical) in Ontario. Not listed under SARA or COSEWIC. NatureServe global rank is G5 (Secure), with national ranks of N5 in both Canada and the US, indicating the species is common range-wide but rare at its northern limits. Ontario populations may be extirpated; the SH rank indicates not seen in over 20 years. Not found in Ottawa or Ottawa-Hull regional floras.
S22+S26+S62+S63
Rarity Ranks: QC S3 – Vulnerable, ON SH – Historical
Migration: Stable
Ecological Context: A small, delicate perennial herb of moist acidic meadows, open deciduous woodlands, and clearings. Typically found in sandy or loamy soils in the understory or along forest edges, often growing among grasses. In Quebec it is ranked S3 (Vulnerable) and in Ontario SH (Historical), indicating significant rarity in the region. Herbarium specimens from Quebec are concentrated in the Montérégie, Eastern Townships, and Laurentians, with none from the Ottawa-Gatineau corridor.
S4+S7+S22+S54

Roles: Fortress/Barrier, Pollinator Attractor
S73/S29/S72 Evidence: Fortress/Barrier: S61 keyword match: thorns? (supporting signal only)] | Pollinator Attractor: S73 [MEDIUM]: S68 9 bee associations (threshold=3)]

Category: Urinary Aid
S28 Cherokee Drug, Urinary Aid
Notes: Cherokee traditional medicine used an infusion of the plant for bedwetting (Hamel & Chiltoskey 1975). PFAF rates medicinal value at 0/5, and no other ethnobotanical medicinal uses are recorded.
S28+S29

❌ Not Edible

Foraging Notes: PFAF lists leaves and flowers as edible raw and in salads (edibility rating 2/5), but no significant culinary tradition exists. Moerman NAEB records no food use by Indigenous peoples.
S29+S28