Cryptantha dissita

Lake cryptantha, Lake Cryptantha

Family: Boraginaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2

Lake cryptantha is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) California native annual found in eastern Klamath Ranges, southeastern North Coast Ranges, and southern North Coast Interior Ranges in rocky outcrops, gravelly serpentine slopes, chaparral, and foothill woodland at elevations of 150 to 900 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces pale yellow flowers with a corolla limb 5 to 8 millimeters in diameter. Growing with erect, tufted stems 8 to 25 centimeters tall, it develops sparse branches near the base with soft, spreading bristly hairs. Its leaves are crowded at the base, 0.5 to 2.5 centimeters long, with oblong to wide-linear shape and soft, mostly appressed hairs with bulbous bases. The fruit consists of 1 to 4 smooth, shiny, mottled gray and brown nutlets that are 1.8 to 2.2 millimeters long.

Habitat: Rocky outcrops, gravelly slopes, serpentine endemic, chaparral, foothill woodland

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: 150-900 m

Bioregions: e KR, se NCoRO, s NCoRI.

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