Boraginaceae Archives • Alexander S. Kunz Photography

Heliotropium curassavicum var. oculatum

Common name: Salt Heliotrope, Chinese Parsley, Seaside Heliotrope, Quail Plant

2022/03/29

Heliotropium curassavicum var. oculatum (Seaside heliotrope, Salt heliotrope), Rancho Bernardo, California; July 2017.

Salt Heliotrope (Heliotropium curassavicum var. oculatum) is a perennial herb that often creeps along the side of trails. As far as I can see, we only have the variety oculatum here. It is generally quite low-growing; when it gets half a meter (1.5 feet) high, it is already exceptionally tall. I’ve observed it from May into August. This makes it one of the “summer joys” of San Diego County, when it adds little splashes of color and green to an otherwise drying landscape.

Common name: Baby Blue Eyes

2022/03/19

A small crowd of Nemophila menziesii var. menziesii ("big" Baby Blue Eyes), Escondido, California; March 2019.

This is the “companion” plant portrait to Nemophila menziesii var. integrifolia, hopefully showing nicely just how much the two varieties of this species differ, with regards to size and coloration of the flowers, and perhaps most of all the leaves. Because as mentioned in the other portrait: only seeing one of the two, it puzzled me how they’d be just a variety of one and the same species! :)

Nemophila menziesii var. integrifolia

2022/03/182022/03/18

The Baby Blue Eyes have long puzzled me. The photos that I found online didn’t really match what I saw with my own eyes. More specifically, most of the flowers that I saw here in San Diego County where much smaller, and looked different. Yet people told me: yes, those are Baby Blue Eyes.

Common name: Thick-Leaf or Felt-Leaf Yerba Santa

2022/02/022021/05/16

Eriodictyon crassifolium (Thick-leaf or Felt-leaf Yerba Santa), Daley Ranch, Escondido, California. April 2018.

Photographic plant portrait for Eriodictyon crassifolium aka Thick-Leaf or Felt-Leaf Yerba Santa, a tall shrub in the chaparral and sage scrub plant communities.

Common name: Blue Fiestaflower

2021/05/162021/04/11

Small group of Pholistoma auritum (Blue fiesta flower), Escondido, April 2018.

Here in inland north county of San Diego (Rancho Bernardo), I find Pholistoma auritum var. auritum blooming most reliably in somewhat shaded areas that are not getting too much direct sun exposure.