Common name:
Bushy cryptantha
Family:
Scientific name:
Cryptantha racemosa
Main flower color:
Range:
Southeast California, south Nevada, northwest Arizona and a small adjoining part of Utah
Height:
Up to 3 feet
Habitat:
Scrubland, canyons, washes, rocky hillsides; up to 4,700 feet
Leaves:
Sessile, alternate, linear to narrowly oblanceolate, up to 2 inches long
Season:
February to May
Cryptantha racemosa is easily recognized on account of its bushy growth pattern; after a few years plants form rounded, densely-branched clumps up to 3 feet high, rather different to most species of this genus. Stems become woody towards the base. Branches angle outwards and upwards, and when new they have a covering of appressed, strigose hairs and (fewer in number) spreading, bristly hairs, as do the narrow, linear leaves.
Flowers form in open, elongated clusters, at quite well separated intervals along the upper few inches of the branches, held on very short stalks, spreading or ascending. The narrowly lanceolate calyx lobes are covered by strigose hairs and longer bristles, these more dense than on the stems and leaves. The corolla has five white, rounded lobes, held at around 90 degrees to the stem, with small yellow appendages at the base.
Flowers form in open, elongated clusters, at quite well separated intervals along the upper few inches of the branches, held on very short stalks, spreading or ascending. The narrowly lanceolate calyx lobes are covered by strigose hairs and longer bristles, these more dense than on the stems and leaves. The corolla has five white, rounded lobes, held at around 90 degrees to the stem, with small yellow appendages at the base.
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