#silky phacelia

[mothmiso]

To The Occidental Plateau (2) (3) (4) (5) by Howard W. Morris

[photonine]

Silky Phacelia

[native-pollenist]

It's herbarium mounting day! Was happy to find these two Phacelias together when I was collecting- they show the variability in the leaves, but both still keyed to the same species. (the coins are weighing down flyaways while the glue dries) Phacelia sericea, "purple fringe" or "silky phacelia" is in the Hydrophyllaceae, "waterleaf" family. They all have inflorescences that start out coiled up and unfurl as they mature and bloom. Their showy purple sprays are common in subalpine and alpine Meadows during mid and late summer.

[a-singer-of-songs]

Silky Phacelia (Phacelia sericea)

Waterleaf Family

Silky Phacelia is also known as Blue Alpine Phacelia or Sky-Pilot.  It is native to the Western US, although its popularity as a garden or landscaping plant means it is often grown outside of its range, where conditions are suitable.  Being an alpine-subalpine plant, it requires cool temperatures to germinate and prosper.  These plants bloom all summer, and have a distinct “fuzzy” (or silky!) appearance due to the long anthers of the individual flowers, which extend well beyond the petals.  The flowers grow on stalks in groups of anywhere from 10-100, and are frequented by bees and butterflies.  Unlike other species of Phacelia, Silky Phacelias are perennials, re-sprouting every spring from a woody base.  The leaves are pinnate and a silvery-green.  Several flower-stalks can grow from a single leafy base, and usually do not get any taller than 1.5ft.

Like many plants, Silky Phacelia can take up and store various minerals.  In the case of Silky Phacelia, this includes gold!  In a study in British Columbia, scientists found that Silky Phacelia contained as much as 55 parts per billion of gold—which I grant you doesn’t seem like much, unless you consider that the soil in which they were growing contained only 1.6ppb.  Still, a get-rich-quick scheme involving the mas harvesting of Silky Phacelia for its gold probably won’t work out for you.  However, this plant is sometimes used to prospect for high concentrations of gold in the soil

This plant is not poisonous, but it also has no medicinal uses.  However, deer, elk, mountain goats, and bears (that’s right, you heard me, bears) all use Silky Phacelia for forage.  It has also been known to store cyanide in its roots.

Sources:

Plants as Indicators of Gold Mineralization

USDA NRCS PLANTS Database

Forest Service 'Plant of the Week' Page

Top picture by me.

Bottom two pictures from here and here.