Duration: Annual

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Annual, 10-30 cm tall; plants slender, stems usually solitary, erect, branched above; herbage short-hispid to spreading hirsute, the hairs occasionally appressed.

Leaves: Basal and cauline, alternate, simple, linear to narrowly oblanceolate, 1-3.5 cm long, 1-4 mm wide, surfaces short- hispid, the hairs beneath evidently pustular based, margins entire, apex blunt.

Flowers: Inflorescence of several elongate spike-like cymes; calyx rounded at the base, somewhat asymmetrical, the segments linear with a thickened midrib, 4-6 mm long in fruit, strigose-hirsute and hispid with pustular-based hairs; corolla inconspicuous, about 1 mm wide, white; flowers June-September.

Fruits: Nutlets mostly solitary, sometimes 2 or 3, lanceolate to lance-ovate, 1.7-2.1 mm long, smooth.

Ecology: Dry, rocky slopes, mesas, sagebrush and pinyon-juniper communities, limestone soils; 450-2100 m (1500-7000 ft); Apache, Coconino, La Paz, Mohave, Navajo, Pima, and Yavapai counties; western to southwestern U.S.

Notes: Cryptantha fendleri is similar to C. gracilis, but is distinguished by its prominent central axis, more open inflorescence, rounded calyx, and 4 nutlets.

Synonyms: Cryptantha hillmanii, Cryptantha linearis

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;