Phacelia campanularia
Encyclopedia
Phacelia campanularia, commonly known as California bluebell, desert bluebell, or desertbells, is an annual
native to the Mojave
and Sonoran Desert
s, commonly cultivated as an ornamental
.
are toothed and oval to rounded. The stem and leaf veins are reddish, contrasting with the light green or gray leaves.
Flower
s have five deep blue to purple petal
s fused into a bell and five protruding stamen
s with light-colored anthers. They bloom on a curving or coiling scorpioid
cyme. Each flower is 1.5–4 cm (0.590551181102362–1.6 in) long.
Annual plant
An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...
native to the Mojave
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...
and Sonoran Desert
Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest...
s, commonly cultivated as an ornamental
Ornamental plant
Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...
.
Description
Height is up to 0.5 metres (1.6 ft). The whole plant is covered with glands and many short hairs. The leavesLeaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
are toothed and oval to rounded. The stem and leaf veins are reddish, contrasting with the light green or gray leaves.
Flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s have five deep blue to purple petal
Petal
Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They often are brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. Together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals lying...
s fused into a bell and five protruding stamen
Stamen
The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...
s with light-colored anthers. They bloom on a curving or coiling scorpioid
Scorpion
Scorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by the pair of grasping claws and the narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger...
cyme. Each flower is 1.5–4 cm (0.590551181102362–1.6 in) long.