Scientific Family
Hydrophyllaceae
Synonyms
Phacelia cinerea
Other common names
wild heliotrope
scorpionweed
Plant type
Forbs and Subshrubs
Origin
Native
Lifecycle
Annual
Height
To 30 inches
Riparian
No
Straggly plant with reddish, hairy branching stems and bluish-purple bell-shaped flowers in coiled clusters. They are often found growing in tangles among shrubs. Despite one of its common names, it is not related to garden heliotropes.
Annual, reddish stems erect or trailing. Plant is covered with fine stiff hairs. Leaves alternate, once or twice pinnate, leaflets ovoid. Purple flowers tubular, borne along terminal coiled stems. Bracts are hairy, corolla is bluish.
Habitat
Along washes and bajadas and less often rocky slopes.
Plant Community
Pinyon Juniper Woodlands
Interior Chaparral
Grasslands
Desert Scrub
Low elevation
1000
High elevation
5000
Flower Characteristics
The blue to bluish-purple flowers are bell-shaped with 5 rounded, united petals to 1/4 inch wide. The flowers are clustered in finely haired, terminal coils.
Flower color
Bluish-purple
Flower shape
Bell-shaped
Tubular
No
First bloom month
February
Last bloom month
June
Flower clusters
Elongated
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
The green leaves are finely haired, fern-like, once or twice pinnately divided and highly variable to 3 inches long.
Leaf type
Compound
Leaf color
Green
Leaf shape
Pinnatifid
Leaf margin
Lobed
Leaves clasp
No
Leaf hairs
Leaves & stems
Spines
No
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
Fruit type
Capsule
Seeds 4 or fewer, red-brown, narrowly ovoid, pitted.