Phacelia tanacetifolia Benth.
Erect or suberect, ± hairy annual, to c. 1 m high; mature stems sparingly hairy. Lvs pinnate, to c. 10 × 6 cm; leaflets pinnatifid, usually white-hirsute when young, especially below; lobes of leaflets < 1-5 mm long, ± oblong, crenate to deeply serrate. Cymes scorpioid, terminal, many-flowered, glandular and tomentose and with prominently long white hairs; branches to c. 10 cm long at fruiting. Pedicels short. Fls fragrant. Calyx 4.5-7 mm long, linear or nearly so, densely hirsute. Corolla 6-8 mm long, lavender or pale mauve, with darker veins; limb 7-10 mm diam.; lobes rounded, slightly < tube. Filaments with corolla scales adnate to base, long- exserted, glabrous, bluish mauve. Style 2-fid almost to base, pale bluish mauve, hairy towards base. Ovary densely white-hirsute. Capsule c. 4 mm long, elliptic-ovoid, hairy towards apex. Seeds 2.5-3 mm long, ± ellipsoid, strongly pitted, sharply keeled.
S.: Leeston (C. Canterbury), Twizel (Mackenzie County).
California 1981
Vegetable garden and waste places in gardens.
FL Nov-Feb.
P. tanacetifolia is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental and has also been introduced for trial as a nectar source because the fls are reported to be very attractive to bees. The much larger-flowered P. campanularia Gray is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental annual; the lvs are simple and the sky blue corollas are c. 1.5 cm diam.
