| Identification Comments: | In P. inconspicua all hairs are non-glandular, the inflorescences are ebracteate and exceeded by the subtending leaves, the stamens are shortly exserted, and the fruits produce only 2 or 4 seeds. |
| Subspecies Comments: | None recognized. |
| Lookalikes: | Similar to P. austromontana, P. humilis, and P. minutissima. P. inconspicua has flowers that are smaller than those of P. humilis; P. austromontana has a generally more southern distribution, is glandular, and usually has at least some leaves with 1-2 lobes; P. minutissima is also glandular, has leafy inflorescences longer than the subtending leaves, well-included stamens, and produces as many as a dozen seeds per capsule. |
| Phenology Comments: | Depending on elevation and moisture, flowering probably begins sometime between late May and late June and continues sporadically into July. The fruit probably mature by 2-3 weeks after flowering, betwen early June and early August. |
| Reproduction Comments: | Moseley (1989) speculated that Phacelia inconspicua is probably pollinated by flying insects, but its reduced floral display also suggests self-pollination as a possibility (Holland 1996). Dispersal is probably short-distance and mostly down-hill or lateral, by wind, water, ants and other ground-dwelling insects, and/or gravity. |
| Habitat Comments: | Relatively deep, undisturbed, organic-rich soils on fairly steep, concave, N- to NE-facing slopes where snow drifts persist well into spring, on small, otherwise barren soil terraces in small clearings in shrub fields dominated by Artemisia tridentata vaseyana in association with Holodiscus microphyllus, Symphoricarpos rotundifolius, and Leymus cinereus. |
| Ecology Comments: | Appears to be an early- to mid-seral fire-adapted species, undergoing significant population increases after its habitat burns. Invasion of cheatgrass or other exotics after a replacement burn could, however, cause permanent population losses. |
| Inventory Comments: | Systematic surveys have been performed, but much potential habitat north and east of the Humboldt Range remains to be searched in Nevada. |
| Inventory Needs: | |
| Version Date: | 07/18/2001 - 12:00am |
