PLANT of the MONTH   ~~   SEPTEMBER, 2007
updated on or about the 1st of each month

WILD HELIOTROPE Common Name(s): Wild Heliotrope, Chinese Pusley, Quail Plant Scientific Name: Heliotropium curassavicum Family: Boraginaceae Plant Type: Perennial spreading shrub Size: 6-12 inches high, spreading to several feet wide Common Habitat: streambeds, marshes, flats, damp places, or near the coast

Wild Heliotrope is a low, spreading plant with succulent leaves and small white flowers. It is often found in salty or alkaline places like dry streambeds. The photos here were taken on the sandy soil along Crags Road in Malibu Creek State Park, just west of Century Lake. It blooms from March to October.

The flowers of Wild Heliotrope are quite charming and dainty looking, appearing at the ends of 2-4 inch coiling stems that resemble caterpillars. The individual flowers start shaped as a tube then open to 5 petals and are about 1/4 inch in diameter. They are purple in the centers, sometimes with yellow at the base, grading quickly to white at the ends. The fleshy wedge-shaped leaves are about 2 inches long and alternate along the stems.

In researching this plant, surfing the internet for its common name "Wild Heliotrope" often turned up a different plant named Phacelia distans or Common Phacelia. While there are some similarities in flower size and coiling stem, the Phacelia is clearly a different plant. Perhaps they simply liked the name. Apparently so have many others; searching for "Heliotrope" by itself yields quite a range of things, from a song, mineral, color, rash, measuring instrument, company, and dance music artist.

Contributed by Liz Baumann

ARCHIVES of past Plants of the Month:
August 2007: California Buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum)
July 2007: Calabazilla (Cucurbita foetidissima)
June 2007: Speckled Clarkia (Clarkia cylindrica)
May 2007: Prickly Poppy (Argemone munita)
April 2007: Wild Cucumber (Marah macrocarpus)
March 2007: Large-Flowered Phacelia (Phacelia grandiflora)
February 2007: Chaparral Currant (Ribes malvaceum)
January 2007: Tree Tobacco (Nicotiana glauca)
December 2006: Poison Oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum)
November 2006: Sycamore (Platanus racemosa)
October 2006: Cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium)
September 2006: Vinegar Weed (Trichostema Lanceolatum)
August 2006: Lemonade Berry (Rhus integrifolia)
July 2006: Woolly Blue Curls (Trichostema lanatum)
June 2006: Yucca (Yucca whipplei)
May 2006: Monkey Flower (Mimulus Species)
April 2006: Lupine (Lupinus Species)
March 2006: Ceanothus (Ceanothus Species)
February 2006: Wild Peony (Paeonia californica)
January 2006: Purple Nightshade (Solanum xanti)
December 2005: Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia)

REFERENCES:
Wildflowers of the Santa Monica Mountains, by Milt McAuley - link to Amazon.com
Flowering Plants: The Santa Monica Mountains, Coastal and Chaparral Regions of Southern California, by Nancy Dale - link to Amazon.com
Roadside Plants of Southern California, by Thomas J. Belzer - link to Amazon.com
California Native Plants for the Garden, by Carol Bornstein, David Fross, and Bart O'Brien - link to Amazon.com