Cryptantha leiocarpa

Beach cryptantha, Beach Cryptantha

Family: Boraginaceae · Type: annual · Native

Beach cryptantha is a California native annual found in coastal bioregions including North Coast, Central Coast, and Southern Coast in sandy soils and coastal dunes at elevations below 100 meters. Flowering from March to August, this plant produces pale yellow flowers with small limbs 1 to 2.5 millimeters in diameter. Growing as a low-spreading plant 5 to 20 centimeters tall, it forms dense mat-like clusters with many branching stems that become decumbent or prostrate. Its linear to narrow oblanceolate leaves are 1 to 3.5 centimeters long, covered with strigose or bristly hairs that include some bulbous-based bristles. The fruit consists of 3 to 4 narrow-ovate nutlets approximately 1.6 to 2 millimeters long, typically mottled pale gray with brown and featuring smooth, shiny surfaces.

Habitat: Sandy soils, coastal dunes, beaches

Bloom period: Mar-Aug

Elevation: < 100(250) m

Bioregions: NCo, CCo, SCo

California counties: Humboldt, Sacramento, Sonoma, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, San Benito, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Del Norte, Orange, Santa Cruz, Mendocino, Los Angeles, Marin, Alameda, Lake, Ventura, Sierra, San Mateo

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