Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub, Forb/Herb

General: Biennial to short-lived perennial, 30-100 cm tall; plants coarse, robust, stems solitary or few, erect; herbage coarsely bristly with finer and shorter pubescence below.

Leaves: Basal and cauline, alternate, simple, linear to oblanceolate, mostly 6-16 cm long, 8-20 mm wide, the cauline blades progressively reduced, moderately to densely villous-tomentose with numerous pustular-based hairs on both surfaces, margins entire; basal and lower cauline blades petiolate, upper cauline blades sessile or nearly so.

Flowers: Inflorescence of few to numerous compact spike-like cymes; calyx broadly conic at the base, the segments lanceolate, 2-3 mm long in fruit, densely white pubescent with long, soft, ascending to straight hairs, and some intermingled bristle-like hairs; corolla inconspicuous, 1-2 mm wide, the tube equaling to slightly surpassing the calyx, white; flowers April-June.

Fruits: Nutlets 4, broadly ovate, 4.5-6 mm long, strongly compressed, the margin with a conspicuous papery wing.

Ecology: Dry, open slopes, pinyon-juniper woodlands to lower margin of the spruce-fir forests; 1800-2900 m (6000-9500 ft); Apache, Coconino, and Navajo counties; southwestern U.S.

Notes: Cryptantha setosissima is the tallest member of the genus in Arizona, and the most common in ponderosa pine forests. Some people experience skin irritation from the bristly hairs.

Synonyms: Eritrichium setosissimum, Krynitzkia setosissima, Oreocarya setosissima

Editor: Springer et al. 2008

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;