Stats

Lifespan

Annual

Size

Medium

Diet

Photosynthetic

Biome

Desert

Range

North America

Movement

Sessile

Breeding

Seeds

Defense

Toxins

Status

Common

About

A delicate wildflower native to the southwestern US and northern Mexico, blooming in spring across chaparral, grassland, and woodland. Its small lavender-blue flowers emerge from tightly coiled buds — a hallmark of the borage family — unfurling in elegant spirals as they open.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   seed

   A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2. 2.
   sprout

   A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3. 3.
   sapling

   A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4. 4.
   mature

   Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

Learn more

• View on iNaturalist →

Taxonomy

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Magnoliopsida

Order

Boraginales

Family

Boraginaceae

Genus

Phacelia

Species

Phacelia distans