Phacelia fremontii

Wiggins 1964, Jepson 1993, Kearney and Peebles 1969

Duration: Annual Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Ascending annual with few to several stems 10-30 cm tall, stems and leaves puberulent to hirsutulous, inflorescence glandular with stipitate, black or dark brown glands and slightly short-villous. Leaves: Oblong to ovate-oblong, 2-6 cm long, 0.5-2 cm wide, pinnatifid with entire, toothed, or again lobed divisions, blades longer than petioles. Flowers: Few branched or simple cymes, few-flowered, erect in fruit; short pedicels, rarely over 1.5 mm; calyx lobes spatulate-linear, 3-6 mm long, 0.5-2 mm wide to 8 mm in fruit; corolla campanulate or broadly funnelform, 8-15 mm long, 10-18 mm broad, bright blue, pale blue, or rarely nearly white, tube yellow, orbicular lobes 2-5 mm long, stamens 3-8 mm, unequal with glabrous filaments; corolla scales linear-lanceolate, adnate to corolla tube but free from filaments or attached only at base; style 3-5 mm long, pubescent toward base. Fruits: Capsule ovoid to oblong, 3-6 mm long, pubescent toward base, cleft about one-fifth its length. Ecology: Found in sandy or gravelly soils along washes and in arid flats, often beneath shrubs from 2,000-5,000 ft (610-1524 m); flowers March-June. Notes: One of the more beautiful Phacelia. The contrast of the blue corolla and the bright yellow tube and throat are striking. Ethnobotany: Unknown, but other species in the genera have uses. Etymology: Phacelia from Greek phacelo- for bundle, while fremontii is named for John Charles Fremont (1813-1890) an early American explorer. Synonyms: None Editor: SBuckley, 2010