Blue toadflax is pretty easy to miss. The foliage is thin, thinner than grass blades, and the
flowers are diminutive, atop thin stems. From a distance, a colony of blue toadflax resembles a
low-lying cloud of blue mist. It is pretty cool when you take a closer look at it.
Plants: 10-31″ (25-80 cm) in height. Stems may be
green or reddish-green.
Leaves: Leaves are less than 1/32-1/16″ (1-2.5 mm) wide and up to ½-1″ (1.5-3 cm) long. They are sessile. Leaves closer to the top of flowering stalks are
alternate, while lower leaves tend to be opposite.
Flowers: Flowers are blue, and ¼-½″ (6.3-12 mm) long. They are
“bilaterally symmetrical,”
that is, if you cut them down the center, the halves are mirror images. There are two petals
on top, and three larger ones on the bottom, with a white patch in the center.