Phacelia sericea

Taxobox
name = Phacelia sericea


image_width = 240px
image_caption = "P. sericea" ssp. "sericea"
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
familia = Boraginaceae
genus = "Phacelia"
species = "P. sericea"
binomial = "Phacelia sericea"
binomial_authority = (Graham) A. Gray
subdivision_ranks = Subspecies
subdivision = "P. sericea" ssp. "ciliosa" (Rydb.) Gillett
"P. sericea" ssp. "sericea" (Graham) A. Gray

"Phacelia sericea" (Silky Phacelia, Blue Alpine Phacelia, or Sky-pilot) is a showy perennial species of "Phacelia" endemic to western North America.cite web | url = http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?4518,4587,0,4697 | title = UC/JEPS: Jepson Manual treatment for "PHACELIA sericea var. ciliosa" | accessdate = 2008-08-16 | author = Copyright © by the Regents of the University of California | authorlink = University of California, Berkeley | date = 1993 | format = HTML | work = Treatment from the Jepson Manual| publisher = Regents of the University of California and University and Jepson Herbaria (UC/JEPS)] Uncommon, it grows mainly at subalpine to alpine elevations in forest openings or above treeline among rocks and sand.Mark Turner & Phyllis Gustafson: "Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest" Portland, Or. : Timber Press, c2006., ISBN 0881927457] cite book | last = Pojar | first = Jim | title = Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast | publisher = Lone Pine Publishing | location = Edmonton | year = 2004 | isbn = 9781551055305] It is listed by the Federal Highway Administration as a native species suitable for landscaping along roadsides in Colorado.cite web | author =Federal Highway Administration | title =State Plant Listings: Colorado | work =Roadside Use of Native Plants | publisher =United States Department of Transportation | url =http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/rdsduse/co.htm | accessdate = 2008-08-24 ] "Sericea" comes from the Latin "sericeus", or silky, referring to the fine hairs on the leaves and stem.

Description

"Phacelia sericea" consists of several upright or ascending stems to 0.6 m (2 ft) from a tap-rooted, branched woody base. Its leaves are pinnatifid with cleft or entire segments. The basal leaves are somewhat larger than the upper cauline leaves and are more persistent and petiolate. The leaves and stems are generally covered with silvery silky hairs but are scarcely glandular. The inflorescence consists of several short panicles, tightly packed, at the end of the stem, resembling a bottle-brush. The dark blue to purple bell-shaped corolla is 4-6 mm across. It is hairy inside and out but not glandular. The filaments are two to three times as long as the corolla and give the inflorescence a fuzzy appearance. The anthers are bright yellow or orange and the style is shortly cleft. The fruit consists of two-chambered capsules with 8 to 18 seeds.cite book | last = Hitchcock | first = C. Leo | coauthors = Arthur Cronquist | title = Flora of the Pacific Northwest; an illustrated manual | publisher = University of Washington Press | location = Seattle | year = University of Washington Press | isbn = 0295952733]

ubspecies

Two subspecies are recognized. "P. sericea" ssp. "ciliosa" is distributed from Oregon and California east to Wyoming and Colorado. "P. sericea" ssp. "sericea" is restricted to the Rocky Mountains, Alaska, British Columbia and Washington. The latter is smaller, more densely hairy, shorter, i.e., less than 0.3 m (1 ft), with relatively narrow and blunt leaf segments. Where the ranges overlap, "P. sericea" ssp. "ciliosa" occurs at a lower elevation than ssp. "sericea". These are listed as subspecies by the USDA PLANTS database and ITIS, and as varieties by Jepson and Hitchcock.cite web | last = USDA, NRCS | title = The PLANTS Database | publisher = National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA | date = 2008 | url =http://plants.usda.gov | accessdate = 2008-08-19]

Notes