Silky Phacelia Phacelia sericea Waterleaf family (Hydrophyllaceae)
The Phacelia hosts some 150 species in North America, with Phacelia one of the easiest to recognize. The plant's fine hairs give it its scientific name, sericea,Latin from the Greek "serikos," meaning "." Many Phacelias are called "Scorpionweed," an allusion to the coiled flower clusters. Thomas Drummond was the first to collect this lovely plant for science; he found it in the late 1820s in the northern Rocky Mountains.
, silver-hairy , 5-16" tall, with purple flowers clustered in a . Long, slender with and yellow-tipped extend beyond edge of the giving the a fuzzy bottlebrush appearance. are a distinctive light green, cleft, forming a mat with leaves smaller, on shorter stems. Last year's flower stalks may be present.
