Description: gray cryptantha, Cryptantha scoparia, California, White Mountains, Westgard Pass, Cedar Flat, White Mountain Road, Owens Valley watershed, elevation 2240 m (7350 ft). This inconspicuous annual is centered on the Columbia Plateau and northern Great Basin of the interior northwestern United States, and extends down the west side of the Great Basin to a southwestern limit near this location. It is generally found in dry open habitats in sagebrush and pinyon-juniper habitats. The species is somewhat similar to the plants usually called Cryptantha nevadensis, but is sharply distinct by the strongly ascending branches, and erect and less bristly calyces with erect lobes, and the calyces more widely spaced along the branches. Recently it has been discovered that the name Cryptantha nevadensis may also properly apply to the plants here, and that the material usually called C. nevadensis, characterized by calyces spreading in tight clusters and densely bristly with spreading lobes, and branches more widely spreading, may have to go by the next oldest name, Cryptantha arenicola Heller. The taxonomists are still sorting this out. Date: 17 June 2017, 17:39. Source:
gray cryptantha, Cryptantha scoparia. Author:
Jim Morefield from Nevada, USA. Camera location
37° 17′ 07.91″ N, 118° 09′ 24.08″ W View all coordinates using:
OpenStreetMap 37.285530; -118.156689.
