Phacelia breweri

Brewer's phacelia

Family: Hydrophyllaceae · Type: annual · Native

Brewer's phacelia is a California native annual herb found in eastern San Francisco Bay and northern Santa Cruz Mountains in chaparral, talus, and rocky slopes at elevations below 1,400 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces light blue flowers approximately 4 to 6 millimeters long in bell-shaped corollas. Growing with spreading to ascending stems 10 to 45 centimeters tall that are many-branched and covered in short stiff hairs, it has a delicate, branching structure. Its leaves are variable, with lower leaves up to 40 millimeters long, lanceolate to ovate, and partially lobed, while upper leaves tend to be entire or slightly lobed. The small fruit is ovoid, short-stiff-hairy, and contains one to two finely pitted seeds.

Habitat: Chaparral, talus, rocky soils, slopes

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 1400 m

Bioregions: e SnFrB, n SCoRI.

California counties: Santa Clara, San Benito, Stanislaus, Contra Costa, Alameda, Merced, San Bernardino, Fresno, Monterey, El Dorado

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.