Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants

Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicotyledons

Family: Hydrophyllaceae

Common Name: virgate phacelia, varileaf phacelia

Species Code: PHHE

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

Rare: no

Form: forb, biennial or short-lived perennial from a taproot; main stem erect, 20-120 cm tall, stout, often surrounded by several smaller ascending stems, usually pubescent and often spreading-bristly, especially in the inflorescence.

Duration: biennial to perennial

Longevity: short

Habitat Type: prairie

Wetland Indicator Status: FACU

Leaves: petiolate, becoming less so upwards, lanceolate to elliptic, often with 1 or 2 pairs of large lateral lobes at the base, veins prominent.

Mature height: 8-48 inches

Flowers: perfect, borne in a bristly helicoid cyme; corolla white to sometimes purple, 3-6 mm long and wide, filaments strongly exserted, hairy near the middle, style exserted; calyx campanulate, segmented nearly to the base into 5 lobes, lobes 3-6 mm long, oblong to lanceolate.

Flower color: white

Bloom: June

Fruit: capsule, ovoid, 3-5 mm long, hispid; seeds 1.5-2 mm long, brown, finely pitted.

Characteristics:
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.
559,172 seeds/lb (USDA NRCS Pullman PMC 2005).
Taprooted.
n=11, 22 (Baldwin et al 2004).
x=11 (Hitchcock et al 1969).
Polyploidy is present.
Flowers are perfect.
Fruit is a capsule.
Rocky Mountain elk use the plants in summer and fall (Kufeld 1973).

Sun requirement: full

Soil moisture: dry

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

Sowing time: spring or fall

Transplant time: spring

Stratification: not required

Seed yield: high

Seed harvest: mid to late July

Seed first harvest: first season

Seed cleaning: easy

Planting duration: short

Seed insect problem: none noted

Seed shatter: medium

Seed size: medium

Seed harvest date: mid to late July

Seed comments: wear gloves when hand harvesting

Herbaria: Specimen data and digital resources from The Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria

Propagation:
1 protocol in the Native Plant Network
Pullman WA Plant Materials Center

Other Propagation Information
Germinates at 15 or 20^oC in dark (Chirco & Turner 1986).
Germinates best in the dark at 20^oC (Maguire and Overland 1959).
Reproduces sexually by seed.

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. Berkeley, CA: University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California. Accessed 7/16/09 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.

Hitchcock, C. Leo, Arthur Cronquist, Marion Ownbey, and J.W. Thompson. 1969. Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. 5 vol.

Kufeld, Roland. 1973. Foods Eaten by the Rocky Mountain Elk. Journal of Range Management 26:106-113.

Maguire, James D., and Alvin Overland. 1959. Laboratory Germination of Seeds of Weedy and Native Plants. Pullman, WA: Washington State Agricultural Experiment Station. Circular 349. 15 p.

USDA, NRCS, Pullman Plant Materials Center. 2005. Seed Weights of Some Palouse Native Species. Pullman, Wa: Pullman Plant Materials Center. Online at http://www.wsu.edu/~pmc_nrcs/Docs/Seed_Weights_Palouse_Native_Species.pdf