Cryptantha sparsiflora

Few-flowered cryptantha, Few-Flowered Cryptantha

Family: Boraginaceae · Type: annual · Native

Few-flowered cryptantha is a California native annual found in central Sierra Nevada Foothills, Tehama County, eastern San Francisco Bay Area, and southern Coast Ranges in open, dry, rocky sites, sparse grasslands, chaparral, and foothill woodlands at elevations of 300 to 1,300 meters. Flowering from April to May, this plant produces small white flowers with delicate, nearly translucent corolla limbs less than 1.5 millimeters in diameter. Growing with a single slender stem 10 to 30 centimeters tall, it develops sparse branches and appears somewhat wispy and delicate. Its leaves are narrow and sparse, measuring 1 to 3 centimeters long, ranging from oblong to oblanceolate and covered in strigose hairs. The fruit consists of a single nutlet approximately 2 millimeters long, ovate and flattened with a sharp-angled margin and slightly shiny surface.

Habitat: Open, dry, rocky sites, sparse grassland, chaparral, foothill woodland

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: 300-1300 m

Bioregions: c&amps SNF, Teh, e SnFrB, SCoR.

California counties: Kern, Fresno, Monterey, Ventura, Los Angeles, San Benito, El Dorado, Santa Barbara, Tulare, Stanislaus, Mariposa, San Luis Obispo

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