Baby Blue Eyes (Nemophila menziesii)

Family:  Waterleaf (Hydrophyllaceae)

Habitat:  Grassy areas in the foothills; rarely seen much above 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) elevation. You can find it most years in the Wawona Meadow area.

Flowering Season:  February - June. Baby Blue Eyes is one of the earliest blooming wildflowers in the foothills.

Size:  Ground-hugging plants with flowers up to an inch across, often growing in bunches and turning great patches of hillside sky blue.

Nemophila menziesii etymology:  Nemophila means "woodland-loving;" it derives from the Greek words nemos (a grove or wooded pasture) and philos (loving). Menziesii is homage to Archibald Menzies (1754 - 1842), a Scottish naturalist & physician who joined a fur-trading sea voyage in 1786 and returned three years later with several new varieties of plants.

This Photo:  April 24, 2007, along the south shore of Bass Lake.

More Baby Blue Eyes

Albino Blooms	Flowers & Leaves	Flower with Bonus Spider
Closeup	Cluster of Blooms