Phacelia cryptantha

Hiddenflower phacelia

Family: Hydrophyllaceae · Type: annual · Native

Hiddenflower phacelia is a California native annual found in southern Sierra Nevada, Santa Cruz and Monterey Islands, San Gabriel Mountains, San Bernardino Mountains, Peninsular Ranges, eastern Sierra Nevada, and Mojave Desert in gravelly or rocky slopes and canyons at elevations below 1,900 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces blue to lavender flowers in narrowly bell-shaped corollas 4 to 7 millimeters long. Growing 16 to 50 centimeters tall with generally erect stems that are puberulent and occasionally branched, it develops a distinctive growth habit with variable leaf structures. Its leaves range 20 to 150 millimeters long, with proximal leaves often lobed or compound and distal leaves typically compound, featuring segments with toothed edges. The fruit is approximately 4 to 5 millimeters long and nearly spherical, with short stiff hairs covering its surface.

Habitat: Gravelly or rocky slopes, canyons

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 1900 m

Bioregions: s SN, SCoRI, SnGb, SnBr, PR, SNE, DMoj

California counties: San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Kern, Inyo, San Diego, Riverside, Ventura, Imperial, Mono, San Benito, Fresno, San Luis Obispo, Orange

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