Phacelia bombycina

Martin and Hutchins 1980

Duration: Annual Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Annual with few-leaved, erect and sparsely branched stems 10-25 cm tall, herbage both villous-hirsute and glandular, sometimes decumbent. Leaves: Alternate, petioled with basal ones 4-5 cm long, obtuse, mostly deeply pinnatifid, lobes oblong-ovate, rounded at apex, crenate, the cauline leaves few or absent, lobed. Flowers: Crowded scorpioid cymes, nearly sessile, 5 calyx lobes oblanceolate to oblong, 2-3 mm long, acute, glandular-hirsute, funnelform corolla lavender, 5-6 mm long, lobes rounded, mostly entire, stamens and styles much exserted. Fruits: Subglobose capsule, glandular-hirtellous with dark brown, minutely pitted seeds. Ecology: Found on dry, rocky, or gravelly slopes; 4,500-5,500 ft (1372-1676 m); flowers April-June. Distribution: AZ, sw NM; south to n MEX. Notes: Phacelias are often hairy all over with pinnate leaves and most have an inflorescence curled like a scorpions tail (scorpoid cyme).They are notoriously difficult, make sure you have leaves, flowers and mature fruits to correctly identify most species. This species is part of the -crenulata complex- where many species and races often have overlapping and variable characters and are widely misidentified. Best to get a voucher but can be semi- distinct by its stem leaves which are shallowly lobed, oblong-egg-shaped and at the ends of petioles; glandular-hirsute foliage; and purple corollas with exserted stamens. Many of the collections of this bombycina in Arizona have been found along washes, or in gravelly soils and steep banks. Ethnobotany: Unknown, but other species in the genera have uses. Etymology: Phacelia from Greek phacelo- for bundle, while bombycina likely derives from the latin bombycinus, silken, of silk, or silky. Synonyms: Phacelia tenuipes Editor: SBuckley 2010, FSCoburn 2015