Common name: Silky phacelia / Sky pilot (the latter also in use for another unrelated species)
Family: Boraginaceae
Information: This member of the legume (pea/bean family) is found in open, dry, and rocky sites, as well as forest openings. Found at mid to alpine elevations (Pojar and MacKinnon 2014).
Interesting fact: Phacelia may concentrate gold minerals in its tissues to a level of 55 ppb, and has therefore been used in mineral prospecting (biogeochemical prospecting) (Pojar and MacKinnon 2013)
Photo: An exposed ridgetop part of the headwater basin of North Cinnabar River in South Chilcotin Mtns Provincial Park at an approx. elevation of 2190m. N. Hewitt-S. Wood, July 28 2019.
Sources and additional resources:
Pojar, J. & MacKinnon, A. (2014). Plants of Coastal British Columbia: Including Washington, Oregon & Alaska. Vancouver: Lone Pine Publishing.
Pojar, J. & MacKinnon, A. (2013). Alpine Plants of the Northwest: Wyoming to Alaska. Edmonton, AB. Lone Pine Publishing.
Klinkenberg, Brian. (Ed.) 2020. E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia [eflora.bc.ca]. http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Phacelia%20sericea. Accessed: 2020-05-12.
