Hackelia brevicula is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common name Poison Canyon stickseed.
Distribution The plant is endemic to eastern California. It is native to the Inyo Mountains and White Mountains, within Inyo County and Mono County and the Inyo National Forest.Calflora: Hackelia brevicula It grows at in elevation, on dry rocky slopes, scrubby areas, and open quaking aspen stand habitats.Jepson eFlora: Hackelia brevicula
It is a listed Vulnerable species, and is on the California Native Plant Society Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants.California Native Plant Society, Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants (online edition, v8-02): Leptosiphon acicularis . accessed 04.29.2016.
Description Hackelia brevicula is a perennial herb tall and coated thinly in stiff hairs. Most of the leaves are located around the base of the plant, reaching up to 18 centimeters long; there are a few smaller leaves on the stem itself.
The inflorescence is an open array of branches, each a coiling panicle of flowers. Each flower is just over a centimeter wide with light blue lobes with white appendages at the bases. The fruit is a cluster of nutlets which are often prickly. The bloom period is July.
Taxonomy In 1943 the botanist Willis Linn Jepson described a new variety of Lappula coerulescens that he named brevicula. In 1974 Johnnie Lee Gentry moved it to the genus Hackelia and at the same time raised it to a species named Hackelia brevicula. Together with its genus it is classified in the Boraginaceae family.
References
External links Calflora Database: Hackelia brevicula (Poison canyon stickseed) Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of Hackelia brevicula UC CalPhotos gallery