Phacelia purpusii

Purpus' phacelia

Family: Hydrophyllaceae · Type: annual · Native

Purpus' phacelia is a California native annual found in southern California Ranges, Sierra Nevada, and Modoc Plateau in conifer forests with sandy or gravelly soils at elevations of 700 to 2,300 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces lavender to violet bell-shaped flowers 6 to 8 millimeters long with translucent petal areas. Growing with generally erect stems 10 to 40 centimeters tall that are puberulent and sometimes glandular, it displays a sparse, upright form. Its leaves range 12 to 50 millimeters long, with elliptic to ovate blades that are entire or slightly lobed. The fruit is a small, short-glandular-hairy ovoid structure containing 3 to 7 pitted seeds.

Habitat: Sandy or gravelly soils, conifer forest

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 700-2300 m

Bioregions: s CaRH, SN, MP.

California counties: Fresno, Tulare, Kern, Butte, Shasta, Tehama, Plumas, Modoc, San Benito, Mariposa, El Dorado, Kings

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