''Phacelia stellaris'' is a rare species of flowering plant in the borage family,

Boraginaceae Boraginaceae, the borage or forget-me-not family, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, trees and herbs in 146, to 156 genera with a worldwide distribution. The APG IV system from 2016 classifies the Boraginaceae as single family of the or ...

, known by the common names star phacelia and Brand's phacelia.

Endangered habitat

It is native to

coastal sage scrub Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is ...

and beach dunes on the coast of southern

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

, where it is known from only a few occurrences. Its status is uncertain, as most of its recorded occurrences are in areas that have since been disturbed or degraded in this highly developed coastal region. There are confirmed populations around

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

and along the Santa Ana River.Comprehensive Guide to Santa Ana River Flora.
University of California News April 19, 2007. The plant is a current candidate for federal protection as a threatened or endangered species in the United States.

Description

''Phacelia stellaris'' is an annual herb producing a spreading, branching stem up to about 25 centimeters long and lightly hairy in texture. The leaves are lance-shaped to oval with lobed edges, sometimes divided into smaller leaflets. The hairy

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

is a one-sided curving or coiling cyme of bell-shaped flowers, each roughly half a centimeter long. The five-lobed flowers are pale blue or purple in color.

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment of ''Phacelia stellaris''''Phacelia stellaris'' — UC Photo gallery
stellaris Flora of California Flora of Baja California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of San Diego County, California Natural history of Orange County, California Santa Ana River {{Asterid-stub

Endangered habitat

Description

See also

References

External links