Cryptantha clevelandii

Cleveland's cryptantha

Family: Boraginaceae · Type: annual · Native

Cleveland's cryptantha is a California native annual herb found in coastal scrub and grassland with loamy soils, primarily in lower elevation areas ranging from 50 to 150 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces small white flowers in delicate, sparse cymes. Growing 10 to 50 centimeters tall with slender, erect stems branching throughout and covered in strigose hairs, it has a distinctive appearance of spreading, ascending branches. Its leaves are sparse and linear to linear-lanceolate, measuring 1 to 4 centimeters long, with fine bristly margins and soft appressed hairs. The fruit consists of small, lance-ovate nutlets approximately 1.5 to 2 millimeters long, often mottled and slightly shiny.

Habitat: Loamy soils, slopes, grassland, coastal scrub

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 50-150(230) m

California counties: San Diego, Riverside, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, Orange, Los Angeles, Napa, San Bernardino, Santa Cruz, Kern, Lake, Santa Clara, Calaveras, San Mateo, Stanislaus, Alameda, San Francisco, Mendocino, Contra Costa, San Benito, Marin, Sacramento, Fresno, Sonoma, Merced, Colusa

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.