M. 'Inverewe'
An attractive cultivar with nodding sky-blue flowers. It was grown at Inverewe for many years under the name M. betonicifolia (now baileyi) but it is sterile. It may be M. baileyi subsp. pratensis, which it closely resembles, or perhaps a hybrid.
MG Rating: ★★★★   Awards: AGM (2013)
Introduced by: J. Anderson, Inverewe Garden, 2003. Named by: The Meconopsis Group, 2007.
Registered by: The Meconopsis Group, 2007.
Flowering: May to early June. Up to 5 or 6 nodding sky-blue saucer-shaped flowers arise from the false whorl. Their slender pedicels bend to become markedly hooked close to the flowers and the flowers face downwards when they first open. The petals are ovate, slightly overlapping and undulate on their margins. As the flowers age they become more lateral facing and the seed capsules are erect when mature.
Emerging foliage: The emerging rosette of leaves is intensely suffused with a red-purple pigmentation. The leaf laminas are elliptical with cordate or truncate bases and obtuse tips.
Mature foliage: Long petioled, the lamina is rather oblong with a cordate or truncate base and sub-obtuse apex. The leaf margins are incised with crenate-dentate teeth.
Fruit capsule: Ovoid to ellipsoid with a dense covering of short bristles. Short wide style with a prominent rounded stigma. Sterile.
Etymology: Named after Inverewe Garden, Wester Ross.