Phacelia curvipes

Washoe phacelia

Family: Hydrophyllaceae · Type: annual · Native

Washoe phacelia is a California native annual herb found in southern Sierra Nevada, Tehachapi, Transverse, Peninsular, and eastern Sierra Nevada ranges, and Mojave Desert in sandy to rocky slopes, chaparral, oak and pine woodland, and conifer forest at elevations of 500 to 2,700 meters. Flowering from April to June, this delicate plant produces blue to violet flowers with white throats in small, open clusters. Growing 4 to 15 centimeters tall with spreading to ascending stems that are short-hairy and many-branched, it has a compact, intricate form. Its leaves are elliptic to oblanceolate, measuring 10 to 40 millimeters long, with proximal and distal leaves of approximately equal size. The fruit is a small, ovoid structure 4 to 5 millimeters long, containing 6 to 16 pitted seeds.

Habitat: Sandy to rocky slopes, chaparral, oak/pine woodland, conifer forest

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 500-2700 m

Bioregions: s SN, Teh, TR, PR, SNE, DMoj

California counties: San Bernardino, Kern, Inyo, Riverside, San Diego, Tulare, Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Orange, Mono, 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.