Cryptantha ambigua
Wilkes's cryptantha, Wilkes' Cryptantha
Family: Boraginaceae · Type: annual · Native
Wilkes's cryptantha is a California native annual found in the high Sierra Nevada Mountains, Great Basin, and northern California regions in dry, sandy or gravelly areas from sagebrush scrub to open conifer forest at elevations of 1,100 to 2,500 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces small white flowers with delicate, minute appendages. Growing 10 to 30 centimeters tall with multiple erect to ascending branches that spread from the base, it has distinctive sparse-bristly stems with spreading hairs. Its leaves are 2 to 4 centimeters long, generally oblong to linear, covered in stiff strigose hairs with bristly margins. The fruit consists of 3 or 4 small nutlets about 1.6 to 2 millimeters long, which are grayish, slightly glossy, and finely textured with a rounded margin.
Habitat: Dry, sandy or gravelly areas in sagebrush scrub to open conifer forest, occasionally pinyon/juniper woodland
Bloom period: May-Aug
Elevation: 1100-2500 m
Bioregions: CaRH, n&c SNH, GB (exc W&I)
California counties: Mono, Lassen, El Dorado, Modoc, Nevada, Tulare, Siskiyou, Madera, Sierra, Plumas, Tehama, Inyo, Placer, Sutter, Shasta, Trinity, Amador, San Bernardino, Mariposa, Fresno, Alpine, Sonoma, Yolo, Tuolumne
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.