Single Record

PhotoRecords: YES Mary E. McDonald: Conejos Co, north ridge of Hicks Canyon off FSR 101 1 Aug 2014; Scott F. Smith: Saguache Co, junction of Hwy 285 and CR EE, 25 June 2024

Comments: This account of Phacelia neomexicana in the Watershed rests on about 20 records so named and accepted by SEINet, as well as some recent photorecords (2014-2024). The Watershed range (both sides of the Valley) overlaps with P. alba, and clearly the overlap is due in part to problems in determination. Perhaps the surest differentiation between the two species is not color of corolla but size of mature seed. Ackerfield (2022) and BONAP (2022) believe all the Watershed vouchers are P. alba, since neither shows P. neomexicana in Colorado. Recent photorecords by Mary E. McDonald and Scott F. Smith—from Conejos Co (2014), the Great Sand Dunes (2014), La Veta pass (2024), and south of Villa Grove (2024)—are reasonable, however, since the species is present in New Mexico counties that border the Watershed. The species is well named, since its USA distribution (according to BONAP) is centered in New Mexico, with a few locations in extreme western Arizona. It follows the Rio Grande drainage in New Mexico to the Mexican border.