Erect but weak-stemmed plant with lobed, sometimes compound leaves and small blue to lavender bell-shaped flowers in a coil-shaped inflorescence.
Weak stems, lobed leaves, few or no glandular hairs; corolla up to or slightly larger than 1/4 inch wide; calyx (sepals) with stiff or bristly hairs, lobes contracted; inflorescences curled, unfolding as flowers develop, stamens do not exceed petals.
Habitat
Gravelly or rocky slopes, canyons, often under shrubs.
Flower Characteristics
The inflorescence is a one-sided curving or coiling cyme (convex flower cluster). The top flower blooms first. The flower is pale blue to lavender, less than 1/4 inch long, and surrounded by long, narrow linear sepals covered in hairs.
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Leaves elliptic to ovate, lower generally compound, upper lobed to compound.
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
Spheric, hairy capsule less than 1/4 inch long.
Seeds pitted, oblong to spheric, brownish, usually 4 per capsule.