Duration: Annual

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Small, herbaceous annual, 10-40 cm covered with stiff, stinging, white hairs, simple to branching, often growing in small bunches.

Leaves: Cauline, simple, entire, linear to lanceolate, covered with stiff, white, stinging hairs, bristles appressed to spreading, basal leaves whorled, opposite near the base, becoming alternate as one moves up the stem.

Flowers: Tiny, borne in cymes, dense to open when fruiting, appearing white, more so due to the stiff hairs covering the inflorescence, sepals free, tube 1-13 mm, ovary 4-lobed.

Fruits: Fruit 1-2 lanceolate nutlets, generally smooth, white granular.

Ecology: Found in dry, sandy, open areas in grasslands and scrublands, to 5,000 ft (1524 m); flowering March-May.

Distribution: AZ, CA, s NV

Synonyms: None

Editor: LCrumbacher, 2011

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; decipiens means deceptive, in some sense not what it appears to be.