Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Phacelia cryptantha is a species of flowering plant in the borage family, Boraginaceae, known by the common name hiddenflower phacelia. It is native to the southwestern United States and Baja California in Mexico, where it grows in several habitat types in desert, rocky mountain slopes, canyons, plateau, and other areas. It is an annual herb growing mostly erect to a maximum height near half a meter, usually unbranched. It is glandular and coated in short and soft or long, stiff hairs. The lower leaves are up to 15 centimeters long and divided into leaflets; leaves higher on the plant are smaller but may be compound as well. The inflorescence is a one-sided curving or coiling cyme of several narrow bell-shaped flowers. The flower is pale blue to lavender, under a centimeter long, and surrounded by long, narrow linear sepals covered in hairs.

Plant type

Annual herb

Size

6 - 19 in Tall

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Color

White

Plant communities

Creosote Bush Scrub, Joshua Tree Woodland, Shadscale Scrub

Bees
Caterpillars
Butterflies

Butterflies and moths supported

0 confirmed and 8 likely

Confirmed Likely

Geranium Plume Moth

Amblyptilia pica

Annaphila ida

Orange Tortrix Moth

Argyrotaenia franciscana

Chionodes nanodella