Phacelia tanacetifolia

Lacy phacelia

Family: Hydrophyllaceae · Type: annual · Native

Lacy phacelia is a California native annual found in southern North Coast Ranges, North Coast Ranges interior, California Ranges foothills, Sierra Nevada, Sacramento Valley, San Joaquin Valley, eastern San Francisco Bay Area, southern Coast Ranges, and southwestern California in sandy to gravelly slopes and open areas at elevations below 2,500 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces blue flowers in dense, widely bell-shaped corollas 6 to 9 millimeters long with striking purple stamens. Growing 15 to 100 centimeters tall with erect stems that are short-stiff-hairy and occasionally branched, it develops a distinctive appearance. Its compound leaves are 20 to 200 millimeters long, with oblong to ovate blades that feature toothed or lobed leaflets. The plant produces small ovoid fruits 3 to 4 millimeters long, containing one to two wrinkled, pitted seeds.

Habitat: Sandy to gravelly slopes, open areas

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 2500 m

Bioregions: s NCoRO, NCoRI, CaRF, SN (exc n SN), ScV (Sutter Buttes), SnJV, e SnFrB, SCoR, SW (exc ChI), DMoj

California counties: Kern, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Ventura, Tulare, Orange, Lake, Riverside, Monterey, Fresno, San Benito, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Inyo, Contra Costa, Kings, Merced, Santa Clara, Butte, Alameda, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Tehama, Colusa, Yolo, San Diego, Mariposa, Amador, Marin, Sutter, Solano, Imperial, Glenn, Napa, Shasta, Sonoma, San Francisco, Nevada

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