Phacelia phacelioides

Mount diablo phacelia, Mount Diablo Phacelia

Family: Hydrophyllaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2

Mount diablo phacelia is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) California native annual found in eastern San Francisco Bay Area and south coastal ranges in open, rocky slopes at elevations of 500 to 1,400 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces white to light lavender flowers with violet-streaked lobes in delicate clusters. Growing with ascending to erect stems 5 to 20 centimeters tall that are sparsely branched and puberulent, it has a slender, compact form. Its leaves are elliptic to lanceolate, 20 to 80 millimeters long, with entire margins that are slightly shorter than their petioles. The fruit is a small, ovoid structure 3.5 to 4 millimeters long, bearing 5 to 15 pitted seeds.

Habitat: Open, rocky slopes

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 500-1400 m

Bioregions: e SnFrB, SCoRI.

California counties: Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, San Benito, Alameda, Alpine

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