Kingdom Plantae Family Boraginaceae Scientific name Cryptantha circumscissa Rank Species | Order (unplaced) Genus Cryptantha Higher classification Cryptantha | |
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Similar Cryptantha, Boraginaceae, Cryptantha flavoculata, Cryptantha clevelandii, Cryptantha confertiflora | ||
Cryptantha circumscissa is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common name cushion cryptantha. It is native to western North America from Washington to Baja California to Colorado, where it grows in many types of habitat from mountains to desert. It is also known from Argentina. This is an annual herb producing a short, bristly, multibranched stem tangled into a mat no more than 10 centimeters tall. It grows from a red taproot which dries purple. The leaves are up to 1.5 centimeters long, linear to widely lance-shaped, and densely hairy to bristly. The inflorescence is a length of developing fruits with a dense cluster of up to 5 flowers at the tip. The flower has a five-lobed white corolla with yellow appendages at the top of its tube.