Phacelia mohavensis

Mojave phacelia

Family: Hydrophyllaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

Mojave phacelia is a native annual found in southern Sierra Nevada, San Gabriel Mountains, and San Bernardino Mountains in sandy or gravelly soils within conifer forest at elevations of 900 to 2,570 meters. Flowering from April to August, this plant produces white flowers that age to pale blue, 5 to 8 millimeters long with bell-shaped corollas and delicate translucent petal areas. Growing 5 to 25 centimeters tall with erect stems that are short-stiff-hairy and occasionally branched, it develops distinctive violet-white stamens. Its leaves are 10 to 45 millimeters long, linear to narrowly oblanceolate, ranging from entire to coarsely few-toothed and tapering to a slender petiole. The small ovoid fruit is 3 to 5 millimeters long, covered in short stiff hairs and containing 4 to 8 pitted seeds.

Habitat: Sandy or gravelly soils, conifer forest

Bloom period: Apr-Aug

Elevation: 900-2570 m

Bioregions: s SNH, SnGb, SnBr.

California counties: Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Kern, Tulare, Inyo, Ventura

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