Notch-leaved Phacelia

Phacelia crenulata

Color: Purple

Common name: Notch-leaved Phacelia

Latin name: Phacelia crenulata

Family: BORAGINACEAE

Height: 3-24 inches

Description: Phacelia crenulata has bell-shaped flowers that are violet to blue-purple in color and are up to one centimeter long.

Leaf: The 8-12 cm leaves are crenate to deeply lobed and short hairy with glands.

Range: Desert, se Modoc Plateau, East of Sierra Nevada

Habitat: Sandy to gravelly washes, slopes

Elevation: < 2200 m.

Flowering time: Mar-May

Notes: Phacelia crenulata, a dicot, is an annual herb that is native to California and is also found outside of California, but is confined to western North America. The foul-smelling plant can produce a skin rash similar to that produced by poison ivy. Distribution outside California: to Utah, Arizona, nw Mexico. This photo was made Feb. 16, 2005 near Ludlow, San Bernardino County, California.

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We have an online wildflower field guide that is designed to help you identify desert wildflowers by color, scientific name, region and common name. The pictures are sized to work on the iPod, iPhone, iPad and similar devices. With your iPod or phone you will easily be able to identify wildflowers while in the desert. Links for downloads are on the bottom of the Wildflower Field Guide page.

Photo tips: Most digital point-and-shoot cameras have a macro function - usually symbolized by the icon of a little flower. When you turn on that function, you allow your camera to get closer to the subject, looking into a flower for example. Or getting up close and personal with a bug. More on desert photography.

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