Habit: Annual.
Stem: simple to branched, prostrate to erect, fleshy, brittle, angled or winged, glabrous to generally bristly (prickly).
Leaf: cauline, lower generally opposite, upper opposite or alternate, generally reduced; petiole generally bristly-ciliate; blade pinnate-toothed or -lobed, generally bristly.
Inflorescence: flowers 1 in leaf axils or opposite leaves; pedicels longer in fruit, recurved.
Flower: calyx bell-shaped to rotate, sinuses generally with spreading or reflexed appendages; corolla bell-shaped to rotate, white, blue, or purple, spotted or marked or not; stamens included; ovary chamber 1, style 1, generally 1/3--1/2 forked.
Fruit: generally 2--7 mm wide, spheric to ovoid, hairy, generally enclosed by calyx.
Seed: ovoid, smooth, wrinkled or pitted, with a conic, colorless appendage at 1 end.
Species In Genus: 11 species: southeastern United States, western North America.
Etymology: (Greek: woodland-loving)
Jepson eFlora Author: Robert W. Patterson & Richard R. Halse
Unabridged Reference: Constance 1941 Univ CA Publ Bot 19:341--398Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)Key to Nemophila
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