Phacelia novenmillensis

Nine mile canyon phacelia, Nine Mile Canyon Phacelia

Family: Hydrophyllaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2

Nine mile canyon phacelia is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) California native annual found in southern Sierra Nevada eastern slopes and western edge of the Mojave Desert in pinyon/juniper woodland and conifer forest at elevations of 1,600 to 2,200 meters. Flowering from May to June, this delicate plant produces lavender bell-shaped flowers small in size with distinctive long-ciliate calyx lobes. Growing with ascending to erect stems 5 to 10 centimeters tall, the plant has sparse short soft hairs and occasional minute glandular hairs. Its leaves are oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic, typically 20 to 80 millimeters long, with proximal leaves sometimes irregularly lobed or compound. The fruit is small, ovoid, and short-hairy, containing 2 to 4 pitted seeds approximately 1.5 to 2 millimeters long.

Habitat: Open, sandy to gravelly soils, pinyon/juniper woodland, conifer forest

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: 1600-2200 m

Bioregions: s SNH (e slope), w edge DMoj.

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