Phacelia minor

Wild canterbury bells, Wild Canterbury Bells

Family: Hydrophyllaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Wild canterbury bells is a California native perennial found in southern California coastal areas, eastern Transverse Ranges, San Gabriel and San Bernardno Mountains, Peninsular Ranges, and western Colorado Desert in exposed slopes, coastal-sage scrub, and desert canyons at elevations below 1,850 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces purple (occasionally white) bell-shaped flowers 10 to 40 millimeters long with distinctive purple stamens and hairy wings. Growing with erect or reclining stems 20 to 100 centimeters tall, the plant has sparse stiff and short glandular hairs along its branches. Its leaves are 20 to 110 millimeters long, ovate to nearly round, with irregular tooth-like edges that are typically shorter than their supporting stem. The fruit is rounded at the base, 7 to 13 millimeters long, and covered in short puberulent hairs with a short, stiff hairy beak.

Habitat: Exposed slopes, coastal-sage scrub, desert canyons

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 1850 m

Bioregions: SCo, e WTR, SnGb, SnBr, PR, w DSon

California counties: Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Imperial, San Diego, Orange, Ventura, Santa Barbara

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