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    Cryptanthas are lovely plants with an abundance of tiny flowers, hairy leaves very evident in early spring, and persisting dried flower stalks. 

     The Cryptantha and Oreocarya genera are quite similar in appearance and characteristics.  In 1927 Edwin Payson moved many Oreocaryas to the Cryptantha genus and most botanists accept this classification; Colorado plant authority William Weber does not and retains the Oreocarya designation for most species in the Four Corners area.  Weber separates the two genera as follows:

     Oreocarya: "Biennial or perennial from rosettes of basal leaves; flowers more than 5 mm in diameter, often distinctly long-tubular with prominent yellow eye."

     Cryptantha: "Annual without rosettes of basal leaves; flowers minute, less than 5 mm diameter, short-tubed with inconspicuous eye."

    Whatever the genus name, it is difficult to determine the exact species; often the distinguishing characteristic is the shape and markings of the tiny nutlet, observable only with a hand lens or microscope.  

     "Oreos" is Greek for "mountain" and "caryum" is Greek for "nut".

     "Cryptantha" is Greek for "hidden flower" and probably refers to the very small size of the flower.

     The Cryptantha genus was named by Lehman in 1837 and the Oreocarya genus was named by Edward Greene in 1887.

     This web site, following the nomenclature of John Kartesz, recognizes just the one genus, Cryptantha.

     Click for more Cryptanthas.
Oreocarya gypsophila

 

Oreocarya gypsophila
Cryptantha gypsophila. Synonym: Oreocarya gypsophila.
Boraginaceae (Forget-Me-Not Family)

Semi-desert. Openings. Spring.
Big Gypsum Valley, May 5, 2010.

Cryptantha gypsophila grows in lovely clusters to sixteen inches in diameter and nine inches tall.  The plant at left is six inches wide and four inches tall.  Notice last year's dried flower stems at the base of the plant.  This is a rare plant, found only in Mesa, Montrose, and San Miguel Counties of west-central Colorado.  The plant is being carefully protected by various agencies.

James Reveal and C. Rose Bloome named this plant Cryptantha gypsophila  in 2006 from specimens they collected in the gypsum formations of far western Colorado.
Oreocarya gypsophila

Cryptantha gypsophila. Synonym: Oreocarya gypsophila.
Boraginaceae (Forget-Me-Not Family)

Semi-desert. Openings. Spring.
Big Gypsum Valley, May 5, 2010.

Cryptantha gypsophila is very similar to C. paradoxa and can, in the words of Reveal and Broome, be "distinguished from the related and more widespread Cryptantha paradoxa... [by its] leaf blades with a glabrous upper surface and a lower surface with conspicuously pustulate-based bristles rather than uniformly sericeous-strigose to villous leaf blade surfaces".
Oreocarya gypsophila

Cryptantha gypsophila. Synonym: Oreocarya gypsophila.
Boraginaceae (Forget-Me-Not Family)

Semi-desert. Openings. Spring.
Big Gypsum Valley, May 5, 2010.
Oreocarya gypsophila

Cryptantha gypsophila. Synonym: Oreocarya gypsophila.
Boraginaceae (Forget-Me-Not Family)

Semi-desert. Openings. Spring.
Big Gypsum Valley, May 5, 2010.

Unusual soils give rise to unusual plants. In this case, a number of new species have been found in these gypsum hills.

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Cryptantha gypsophila

Range map for Cryptantha gypsophila

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