Amsonia hubrichtii, pronounced am-SO-nee-ah hew-BRIK-tee-eye, carries the common names Arkansas blue star, Arkansas amsonia, thread-leaf blue star, narrow leaf blue star, and Hubricht’s blue star. This all-season perennial has blue star-shaped flowers in spring and light green foliage all summer. The foliage turns a beautiful golden-yellow in fall. Arkansas blue star is very soil-adaptive and insects and diseases are rare.
Amsonia, a native of Arkansas and Oklahoma, is a member of the Apocynaceae family. The species was named after Leslie Hubricht who first discovered it growing in Arkansas in 1942. The foliage is finer than a feather duster and leaves reach three inches long. This amsonia grows 36 inches tall and 36 inches wide in a mounded form. From late spring to early summer, two- to three-inch wide clusters of small, light blue, star-shaped flowers are borne above the ferny foliage. The alternate arranged leaves are bright green in spring and summer, but turn a bright yellow-golden color in fall.
