''Cryptantha ambigua'' is a species of flowering plant in the

borage family Boraginaceae, the borage or forget-me-not family, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, trees and herbs in 146, to 156 genera with a worldwide distribution. The APG IV system from 2016 classifies the Boraginaceae as single family of the order ...

known by the common name basin cryptantha. It is native to western North America from

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, where it grows in many types of habitat, including forest, scrub, and sagebrush.

Description

It is an annual herb producing a branching stem 10 to 35 centimeters tall covered in stiff hairs. The hairy to bristly leaves are up to 4 centimeters long. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a linear array of developing fruits with a dense clump of open flowers at the tip. The bristly white five-lobed flowers are 3 or 4 millimeters wide.

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
ambigua Flora of the Northwestern United States Flora of the Southwestern United States Flora of British Columbia Flora of California Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Cascade Range Flora of the Klamath Mountains Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of the Central Valley (California) Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of the San Francisco Bay Area Natural history of the Transverse Ranges Plants described in 1885 Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Asterid-stub