Eucrypta micrantha

Dainty desert hideseed

Family: Hydrophyllaceae · Type: annual · Native

Dainty desert hideseed is a California native annual herb found in the southern Mojave Desert, eastern Sierra Nevada, and desert regions in rocky canyon habitats, washes, and hillside slopes at elevations of 60 to 2,500 meters. Flowering from March to June, this delicate plant produces white to blue-purple flowers with yellow tubes around 2 to 4 millimeters long. Growing with weak stems 5 to 25 centimeters tall that are stalked-glandular, it has a distinctive growth pattern of slender, branching stems. Its deeply lobed leaves have 7 to 9 oblong or oblanceolate segments, with lower leaves up to 5 centimeters long and becoming progressively smaller and more reduced toward the stem tips. The tiny black seeds mature into curved, worm-like shapes with a distinctive coarsely pitted and corrugated surface.

Habitat: Canyons, hillsides, rocky crevices, washes, slopes

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: 60-2500 m

Bioregions: SnJt, SNE, D

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo, Imperial, Riverside, Kern, San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Fresno

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