Phacelia crenulata var. ambigua

Heliotrope phacelia

Family: Hydrophyllaceae · Type: annual · Native

Heliotrope phacelia is a California native annual found in Desert bioregion in sandy to gravelly washes and slopes at elevations below 1,600 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces purple flowers 5 to 10 millimeters long with distinctive stamens of unequal lengths extending beyond the petals. Growing with stems densely covered in stiff hairs, especially toward the upper portions, it has a delicate and somewhat bristly appearance. Its leaves are textured with stiff hairs, creating a rough surface that helps distinguish this small but striking desert annual. The fruit is small and spherical, approximately 3 to 3.5 millimeters in diameter.

Habitat: Sandy to gravelly washes, slopes

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 1600 m

Bioregions: D

California counties: San Bernardino, Riverside, Inyo, Tulare, Imperial, Kern, San Diego

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