Phacelia calthifolia (Caltha-leaf Phacelia)

3/25/05 Roadside off Hwy 178 east of Salsberry Pass, Death Valley National Park, Inyo County, CA

3/25/05 Roadside off Hwy 178 east of Salsberry Pass, Death Valley National Park

LIFE LIST NOTES:

COMMON NAME: Caltha-leaf Phacelia

SPECIES: Phacelia calthifolia

FAMILY: Boraginaceae (Borage Family)

LIFE LIST DATE: 3/25/2005

LOCATION: Roadside off Hwy 178 just east of Salsberry Pass, Death Valley NP, Inyo County, CA

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Treatment from The Jepson Manual (1993):

Annual 10–30 cm, fleshy, ± brittle

Stem spreading to erect, few-branched, short-glandular-hairy; gland-tipped hairs black

Leaves 10–30 mm, ± basal; blade ± = petiole, ± round, entire to crenate, base lobed

Flower: pedicel 1–3 mm; calyx lobes 2–3 mm, 3–4 mm in fruit, ± linear, short-hairy, glandular; corolla 8–12 mm, funnel- to bell-shaped, violet to purple, deciduous, scales linear; stamens 5–6 mm, puberulent; style 5–6 mm

Fruit 4–5 mm, ± spheric, sparsely puberulent; tip sparsely dark-glandular

Seeds 30–50, 1–1.5 mm; cross-furrows shallow, generally 5–8

Ecology: Sandy soils, generally in creosote-bush scrub

Elevation: < 1000 m.  

Bioregional distribution: n Mojave Desert 

Distribution outside California: w Nevada

Flowering time: Mar–May
Horticultural information: TRY.