Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Lamiids: Boraginales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Phacelia covillei
FAMILY
Hydrophyllaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
This species has the same habitats as, and often grows with, Nemophila aphylla. Read more at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
Phacelia covillei is superficially similar to Nemophila aphylla. Nemophila has solitary flowers borne on pedicels opposite the leaves vs. Phacelia with flowers in 2-6-flowered terminal cymes. Read more in Weakley's Flora (2022)
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Phacelia covillei
FAMILY
Hydrophyllaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Phacelia covillei
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Phacelia covillei
INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 160-05-004:
Phacelia ranunculacea FAMILY Hydrophyllaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)
Phacelia ranunculacea
COMMON NAME:
Coville's Phacelia, Eastern Buttercup Phacelia
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_phco30_001_lvd
)
Samantha Tessel sam_2666
April Orange County NC
Flowers tiny, tubular, pale blue to lavender, ~ 1/5" long, with only slightly spreading lobes, per Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
COMPARE
Baby Blue Eyes and Buttercup Phacelia
)
Samantha Tessel sam_2667
April Orange County NC
Leaves tend to be blue-green as opposed to the bright green leaves of Nemophila, per Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Phacelia covillei
FAMILY
Hydrophyllaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Phacelia covillei
FAMILY
Hydrophyllaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Phacelia covillei
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Phacelia covillei
INCLUDED WITHIN
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 160-05-004:
Phacelia ranunculacea
FAMILY
Hydrophyllaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)
Phacelia ranunculacea
4762
Forb
Annual
Habitat: Rich soils of floodplains, and contiguous terraces and slopes, per Weakley's Flora
Native to North Carolina
Rare
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Simple: Pinnately or ternately divided
Alternate
Leaves have petioles.
FLOWER:
Spring
Pale blue or lavender
Radially symmetrical
5-merous
5-parted calyx
5-lobed tubular-campanulate corolla
5 included stamens
Superior ovary
Bisexual
Inflorescence a helicoid cyme
FRUIT:
Spring
Capsule
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p154
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p076
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p208
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p245
If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
Or, to minimize chances of a misspelling, try just "Carex le".
Less is more: If "pencil flower" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "pencil".