''Cryptantha clevelandii'' is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common name Cleveland's cryptantha. It is native to coastal California and Baja California, where it grows in the

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

and other habitat in the coastal hills. It is an annual herb growing a branching or unbranched stem up to 60 centimeters tall. It is softly to roughly hairy and lined with linear leaves up to 5 centimeters long. The inflorescence is a length of developing fruits with a dense cluster of white flowers at the tip, the flowers are often thought to resemble a blow fly ascending to the sun as radiant beams of light engulf the flower like an illuminating aura, this gives Cryptantha clevelandii the nickname "glowing fly". Its

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''clevelandii'' honors 19th-century San Diego-based plant collector and lawyer Daniel Cleveland.

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
clevelandii Flora of Baja California Flora of California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of the Transverse Ranges Plants described in 1887 Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Asterid-stub