Phacelia hastata
Silverleaf Phacelia
Phacelia hastata (Silverleaf Phacelia, scorpionweed)
Hydrophyllaceae (Waterleaf family)
The first thing you'll notice is probably the fuzzy, white or lavender inflorescence. And on a closer look, the way the flowers are curled into scorpion-tail-like spirals. Beyond that, the hairy (silvery) leaves with deep veins.
P. hastata grows it flat areas, hillsides, forests as long as it has well-drained gravelly or sandy soil to grow in. It does well in disturbed areas -- even downright devastated ones like recovering superfund sites. In fact, the USDA, citing evidence from the devastated Anaconda Mine in Montana, calls it "an excellent pollinator and restoration species."
It attracts bees and insects.
It ranges across the western and northwestern U.S.
The inflorescences look bristly because the stamens and divided style stick out beyond the petals.
The flowers are white (sometimes lavender) and the petals are fused almost to the end, giving them a bell shape.
The flowers are coiled into dense clusters; it's that coiling that got it the nickname "scorpionweed."
In the fall, pods burst open -- dehisce is the technical term, releasing seeds that tumble and blow across the landscape.
The flowers grow on erect to spreading stems; a few stems grow from a single taproot. Like the leaves, the stems are covered with silvery or white hairs.
The leaves have prominent, pinnate veins that are obvious even through the dense, silvery hairs.