Phacelia ramosissima

Wiggins 1964, Jepson 1993, Kearney and Peebles 1969

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Subshrub General: Several stemmed, erect or ascending perennial, 50-120 cm tall, finely cinereous-pubescent and hirsute or hispid throughout, glandular-viscid in inflorescence. Leaves: Broadly ovate to oblong, 5-10 cm long, 2-6 cm wide, pinnate, narrowly ovate to oblong lobes toothed, incised or sometimes twice pinnatifid, the appearance is of distinct leaflets, on slender petioles 1-3 cm long, upper leaves similar and lobed but smaller and sessile. Flowers: Dense but scattered cymes 2-8 cm long, erect in fruit; pedicels rarely longer than 1 mm; calyx lobes spatulate, 5-8 mm long, 1-2.5 mm wide at widest part, densely glandular-hispid, slightly enlarged in fruit; campanulate corolla, pale dingy blue or dingy white, 5-8 mm long, 6-10 mm broad, ovate lobes 2-3 mm long, spreading; stamens 7-10 mm long, somewhat exserted, glabrous; corolla scales ovate, attenuate toward apex, adnate at base of filaments only; style 7-10 mm long, glabrous. Fruits: Capsule ovoid, 3-4 mm long, sharply bristly, acute. Ecology: Found on rocky or brushy slopes and along watercourses from 2,000-7,000 ft (610-2134 m); flowers March-May. Notes: The many stemmed habit helps to distinguish this from other Phacelia. In our region there is a single variety, var. latifolia, which can be distinguished by the glandular stem below the inflorescence, with mostly long, coarse hairs, with some soft and spreading. Ethnobotany: Used as an emetic, to clear a stomachache, for gonorrhea, and the leaves were eaten as greens. Etymology: Phacelia from Greek phacelo- for bundle, while ramosissima means very branched. Synonyms: None, but many varieties. Editor: SBuckley, 2010