Cryptantha muricata

Pointed cryptantha

Family: Boraginaceae · Type: annual · Native

Pointed cryptantha is a California native annual found in dry, open habitats at low to moderate elevations. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces small white flowers in delicate clusters with narrow, curved stems. Growing 10 to 100 centimeters tall, it develops a stout plant structure typically gray to yellow-green with an occasional red-purple root. Its leaves are narrow and linear, measuring 0.5 to 5 centimeters long, spreading along the stems in a sparse arrangement. The plant produces small nutlets that are ovate with sharp-angled margins, creating distinctive seed structures that aid in its identification.

California counties: Los Angeles, Riverside, San Luis Obispo, Mariposa, San Diego, San Bernardino, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Tuolumne, Orange, Kern, El Dorado, Ventura, Tulare, Mono, San Benito, Fresno, Colusa, Lake, Trinity, Alpine, Lassen, Glenn, Nevada, Alameda, Santa Clara, Napa, Marin, Sonoma, Santa Cruz, Stanislaus, Contra Costa, Inyo, Butte, Tehama, Yolo, Imperial, Sierra, Modoc

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