Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants

Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicotyledons

Order: Solanales

Family: Hydrophyllaceae -- Waterleaf family

Variety: The most common and widespread phase is var. hastata.

Common Name: whiteleaf phacelia, silver-leafed phacelia, cordilleran phacelia

Species Code: PHHA

Origin: Native to dry, open forest, talus slopes, and other open, rocky places from British Columbia south to California and east to Nebraska and North Dakota.

Rare: no

Form: forb, perennial from a taproot; stems several, decumbent to suberect, 20-50 cm tall, finely loose pubescence, appearing silvery.

Mature height: 8-20 inches

Duration: perennial

Longevity: short-lived

Habitat Type: prairie, open forest

Wetland Indicator Status: not listed

Leaves: veins prominent, margins entire, sometimes with small lobes or leaflets at the base; basal leaves 6-12 mm long, tufted, persistent, elliptic, petiolate, silvery pubescent; cauline leaves similar, alternate, reduced upward, becoming sessile.

Flowers: perfect, borne in a helicoid cyme, usually short and compact; corolla tubular, white to dull purple, 4-7 mm long and wide; filaments strongly exserted, hairy near the middle; calyx campanulate, pubescent, divided nearly to the base, with linear lobes 3-7 mm long.

Flower color: mostly white, sometimes purple

Bloom: June

Fruit: capsule, ovoid; seeds brown, pitted, 1.5-2.5 mm long.

Characteristics:
P. leucophylla in St. John 1963 and in Davis 1953.
Reproduces sexually by seed.
P. hastata and P. heterophylla are part of a widely variable polyploid complex which has been treated in a variety of ways.
153,000 seeds/lb (USDA NRCS PLANTS Database 2009).
Taprooted.
For ssp. compacta n=22, 33, for ssp. hastata n=11, 22 (Baldwin et al 2004).
For ssp. hastata x=11, 2n=44 (University of British Columbia 2003).
Polyploidy is present.
Plants are covered with short hairs which irritate the skin.
Flowers are perfect.
Fruit is a capsule.
Deer and especially elk graze the young foliage (Craighead et al 1963).

Sun requirement: full sun to partial shade

Soil moisture: xeric

Precipitation: 10-18 inches (USDA NRCS PLANTS Database 2009).

Hazards: Plants are covered with short hairs which irritate the skin.

Sowing time: spring

Transplant time: spring

Stratification: usually not required but high elevation populations may need some stratification

Seed yield: high

Seed harvest: medium difficulty

Seed first harvest: first year

Seed cleaning: easy

Planting duration: short

Seed shatter: medium

Seed size: large

Seed comments: wear gloves to handle the plants and harvest the seed

Herbaria: Species information from the University of Washington Herbarium

Keywords: native perennial upland forb

Propagation:
2 protocols in the Native Plant Network
Glacier National Park, Montana
Bridger, Montana Plant Materials Center

Other Propagation Information:
Germinates at 15 or 20^oC dark (Chirco & Turner 1986).
No pretreatment required. Sow fall or early spring (Link 1993).
Reproduces sexually by seed.

Notes: Phacelia hastata and Phacelia heterophylla are probably not great garden subjects. Despite their resemblance to the Borage family, they are actually members of the family Hydrophyllaceae. The plants are not very attractive. They grow tall and fall over, and the inflorescence is covered with irritating hairs like the borages. Might be of more use in a wilder setting or for erosion control and stabilization purposes. Both are easily grown from seed and readily re-seed themselves. Biennials or short-lived perennials. Can be spring sown, stratification does not increase germination. Common names are common or whiteleaf phacelia and virgate or varileaf phacelia, respectively (Skinner et al 2005).

References:
Baldwin, B.G., S. Boyd, B.J. Ertter, D.J. Keil, R.W. Patterson, T.J. Rosatti, and D.H. Wilken (eds). 2004. Jepson Online Interchange for California Floristics. University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley, CA. Accessed 12/26/09 online at http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/interchange.html

Chirco, Ellen, and Terry Turner. 1986. Species without AOSA Testing Procedures. The Newsletter of the Association of Official Seed Analysts 60(2):2-66.

Craighead, John J., Frank C. Craighead, and Ray J. Davis. 1963. A Field Guide to Rocky Mountain Wildflowers. Houghton Mifflin Co. Boston, MA.

Davis, Ray J. 1952. Flora of Idaho. Wm. C. Brown, Dubuque, Iowa. 827 pp.

Link, Ellen (ed.). 1993. Native Plant Propagation Techniques for National Parks Interim Guide. USDA, NRCS, Rose Lake Plant Materials Center. East Lansing, MI.

Skinner, David M., Paul Warnick, Bill French, and Mary Fauci. 2005. More Palouse Forbs for Landscaping. USDA NRCS Pullman Plant Materials Center and Palouse Prairie Foundation. Online at http://www.wsu.edu/pmc_nrcs/Docs/More_Forbs_for_Landscaping.pdf

St. John, Harold. 1963. Flora of Southeastern Washington and of Adjacent Idaho. 3rd edition. Outdoor Pictures. Escondido, CA.

University of British Columbia. 2003. British Columbia Flora. University of British Columbia Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research. Accessed 9/1/09 online at http://www.bcflora.org/

USDA NRCS. 2009. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 26 December 2009). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Links:
Plant Profile from the USDA PLANTS Database
Species information from the University of Washington Herbarium