Phacelia hydrophylloides

Water leaf phacelia

Family: Hydrophyllaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Water leaf phacelia is a California native perennial found in the Sierra Nevada and high Cascade Range in conifer forest, meadows, and mountain slopes at elevations of 1,500 to 3,100 meters. Flowering from June to September, this plant produces white to purple-blue flowers in dense head-like clusters with bell-shaped corollas 5 to 8 millimeters long. Growing with decumbent to ascending stems 10 to 30 centimeters tall that are hairy but generally not glandular, it develops a distinctive growth habit. Its leaves have oblong to ovate blades 15 to 60 millimeters long, typically with coarse teeth or 1 to 2 deep lobes, creating a textured appearance. The fruit is an ovoid structure 5 to 7 millimeters long, containing 3 to 8 small seeds with a distinctive net-like, pitted surface.

Habitat: Slopes, flats, meadows, conifer forest

Bloom period: Jun-Sep

Elevation: 1500-3100 m

Bioregions: CaRH, SNH

California counties: Fresno, Amador, Tulare, Alpine, Mono, Mariposa, Plumas, Nevada, El Dorado, Calaveras, Placer, Madera, Orange, Tuolumne, Sierra, Lassen, Tehama, Shasta

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