| Author | (Thunberg) A.L.P.P. de Candolle | |
| Distribution | Formerly confined to the Sandhills and southern Coastal Plain; plus a 2021 photo from Beaufort County on the outer Coastal Plain (Goose Creek SP). First collected in 1957 in Robeson County. It is spreading slowly, including inward; a specimen was collected in the Piedmont in Orange County (NCU) in 2023.
Native of eastern Asia and Oceania; in N.A. NC to FL, TX, AR.
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| Abundance | Fairly common to common, notably increasing over the years, and spreading in range. Individual populations may support hundreds of plants, while others just a few. Still very rare at the eastern end of the Piedmont, but likely will continue to spread westward. | |
| Habitat | Dry to mesic sandy roadsides, fields, fallow cropfields, granitic flatrocks (Anson Co.), disturbed soils, yard weed. | |
| Phenology | Flowering April-October (rarely earlier or later). | |
| Identification | Southern Rockbell is a slender wisp of a plant that may grow to 1.5 feet, the stems single to many. The leaves are linear. The flowers grow on slender stalks, are 5-8 mm long, pale to medium blue, tubular with lobes generally spreading. Without the flowers, the plants almost disappear and would be easily overlooked. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | | |
| Other Common Name(s) | | |
| State Rank | SE | |
| Global Rank | G4? | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
