[Illustration]
[Sidenote: =Phacelia=
_Phacèlia serícea_
=Purple
Summer
Northwest, Nev., Utah=]
A mountain plant, which in favorable situations is exceedingly handsome
and conspicuous, about a foot tall, but sometimes more, with downy,
leafy stems, and handsome, silky-downy foliage, cut into many narrow
divisions. The bell-shaped flowers are three-eighths of an inch across,
rich purple, with very long, purple filaments and yellow anthers, and
are crowded in magnificent clusters, sometimes eight inches long and
very feathery. The corolla dries up and remains on the fruit. This has
a disagreeable smell and grows at very high altitudes, where it is
unusual to find such large showy flowers. In dry unfavorable situations
it is often small and pale in color.
[Sidenote: =Phacelia=
_Phacèlia Párryi_
=Purple
Spring
California=]
This has very handsome flowers, but the plant is too straggling. The
branching, reddish stems are very hairy and rather sticky, from one to
nearly two feet tall, with dull green, hairy leaves, which are harsh
but not disagreeable to touch, and the flowers are over three-quarters
of an inch across, with a very hairy calyx and a bright purple corolla,
with a cream-colored spot, the shape of a horseshoe, at the base of
each petal. The filaments are purple and hairy, with cream-colored
anthers and the style is white, tipped with purple. This sometimes
grows in such quantities as to give a very brilliant color effect and
is found from Los Angeles to San Diego.
[Sidenote: =Vervenia=
_Phacèlia dístans_
=Violet
Spring
Southwest=]
This is from eight inches to two feet high, with hairy, soft, dull
green leaves and hairy stems, which are usually branching and
spreading. The flowers are less than half an inch across, with a very
hairy, sticky calyx, a violet corolla, varying in tint from dull
white to bright blue, fading to purple, and purple filaments with
whitish anthers. This grows in dry places and is common, often forming
large clumps covered with flowers which are quite effective in color,
though the plants are too straggling and hairy to be very attractive
close by. _P. ramosíssima_ is similar but coarser, the flowers are
larger, and the plant is exceedingly hairy, the calyxes being covered
with conspicuous, long, white hairs, and the whole plant unpleasant to
touch.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Mountain Phacelia--Phacelia sericea.]
[Illustration: Vervenia. P. distans.