Cryptantha incana

Tulare cryptantha

Family: Boraginaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.3

Tulare cryptantha is a rare (CNPS 1B.3) California native annual found in southwestern Sierra Nevada Mountains in granitic gravelly or rocky soils of open conifer forest and occasional chaparral at elevations of 1,770 to 3,000 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces small deep yellow flowers with prominent corolla appendages. Growing 15 to 50 centimeters tall with slender, erect stems branching throughout and covered in strigose hairs that ascend and spread. Its leaves are 1 to 3.5 centimeters long, oblong to narrow-oblanceolate, bristly on the underside with some bristles having bulbous bases. The fruit consists of one to three nutlets, 1.5 to 2 millimeters long, pale to dark gray and generally smooth with a shiny surface.

Habitat: Granitic gravelly or rocky soils, open conifer forest, occasionally chaparral

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: 1770-3000 m

Bioregions: sw SNH.

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