Duration: Annual

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Annual with many prostrate-ascending, slender branches 10-20 cm long, pubescence rather densely strigose and more sparsely spreading-hirsute.

Leaves: Crowded below, less abundant above, narrowly oblanceolate, 1.5-2.5 cm long, little reduced above, densely hirsute, hairs from pustulate bases with some finer hairs intermixed.

Flowers: Corolla small 1.5-3 mm long, calyx sessile or nearly so, early deciduous, calyx lobes equal, hirsute, lance-ovate to oblong-lanceolate, midrib but thickened, 2-2.5 mm long.

Fruits: Nutlets 4, strongly bent above base, about 1 mm long, closed, areola shallow, triangular, style much surpassing nutlets. 

Ecology: Found on sandy and rocky soils from 4,000-5,500 ft (1219-1676 m); flowers March-June.

Notes: Diagnostic for this species is the bent nutlet.

Ethnobotany: Other species in the genus used the plant for fatigue, coughs, against throat cancer, as sheep feed, for intestinal problems, and the plant was chewed for colds.

Synonyms: Eritrichium pusillum

Editor: SBuckley, 2010

Etymology: Cryptantha comes from the Greek krypto, "hidden," and anthos, "flower," a reference to the first described species in the genus which has inconspicuous flowers that self-fertilize without opening; pusillus means small, weak or insignificant.