Phacelia sericea – Scorpion Weed –

Description

Phacelia – Scorpion Weed – There are 150-200 usually erect annual, biennials, and perennials in the Boraginaceae family, in this genus. They occur in variable habitats, including stony slopes, scrub,, and woodlands, in Western North America and South America. They range in size from 6″ tall to 5′ feet tall and produces, sometimes downy, pinnate, sometimes simple leaves are broadly ovate to elliptic or linear, and mostly alternate, the lower ones sometimes opposite. They bear terminal cymes, racemes, or panicles of 5 petaled, tubular, bell shaped, or bowl shaped, blue, violet, white, or yellow flowers, each with 5 narrow, spreading lobes, and with prominent styles and stamens. The annual species are suitable for a border or wildlife garden, their nectar rich flowers attract bees and other insects. They resent winter moisture. Contact with foliage may aggravate skin allergies similar to Poison Ivy and Oak. Grow annual in any light, fertile, well drained soil in full sun. Protect from winter moisture. Prone to downy mildew, powdery mildews, rust, and leaf spots. P. sericea – This rosette forming biennial or short lived perennial from the Rocky mountains grows 22″ tall and 4″ wide. It produces silky hairy, deeply pinnatifid leaves, to 4″ long, with oblong-lance-shaped lobes. In summer it bears short, dense, panicle like cymes of bell shaped, indigo-blue flowers, to 3/8″ across, with pale blue anthers and protruding stamens. Zones 5-10