Cryptantha decipiens
Gravel cryptantha, Gravel Cryptantha
Family: Boraginaceae · Type: annual · Native
Gravel cryptantha is a California native annual found in southeastern Sierra Nevada, Tehachapi, San Joaquin Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, and other southern California regions in open gravelly slopes, creosote-bush scrub, and Joshua-tree woodland at elevations of 60 to 1,400 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces small white flowers with delicate petals in tight clusters. Growing 10 to 40 centimeters tall with slender erect stems covered in stiff, appressed hairs, the plant has a distinctive sparse branching pattern. Its leaves are narrow and linear, ranging from 0.5 to 3 centimeters long, with minute hairs that have bulbous bases. The fruit consists of lance-ovate nutlets 2.3 to 2.7 millimeters long, brown and textured with upward-pointing tubercles.
Habitat: Open, gravelly, occasionally coarse sandy slopes, washes, creosote-bush scrub, Joshua-tree woodland
Bloom period: Mar-May
Elevation: 60-1400 m
Bioregions: se SNH, Teh, SnJV, SnFrB, SCoR, ne SCo, WTR, n SnGb, ne SnBr, e PR, W&I, D
California counties: San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Inyo, Riverside, San Diego, Kern, Imperial, San Luis Obispo, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Benito, Fresno, Contra Costa, Monterey, Merced, Stanislaus, Alameda, Tulare
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.