''Cryptantha crinita'' is a rare 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 names Sacramento cryptantha and silky cryptantha. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

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 ...

in the United States, where it occurs in the northern

Sacramento Valley , photo =Sacramento Riverfront.jpg , photo_caption= Sacramento , map_image=Map california central valley.jpg , map_caption= The Central Valley of California , location = California, United States , coordinates = , boundaries = Sierra Nevada (ea ...

and the adjacent edges of the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

foothills.Elliott, B. A. and S. S. D. Mackey. (2008)
Habitat and distribution of ''Cryptantha crinita'' Greene (Boraginaceae).
''Madroño'' 55(1) 76-80. This annual herb grows up to 30 or 40 centimeters in height. The branching stem and leaves are covered in hairs. The lance-shaped to oblong leaves are 1 to 3 centimeters in length. 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 dense, coiled cyme of several flowers with soft-hairy

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s and white corollas.''Cryptantha crinita''.
Jepson Manual Treatment. Blooming occurs in April and May.
California Native Plant Society Rare Plant Profile] This plant grows in river, riparian habitat along ephemeral creeks in the northern Sacramento Valley. Recent observations indicate that it sometimes occurs in the foothills on the edges of the Cascade Mountains as well. This habitat is

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 woodland on volcanic soils. The recent observations have extended the plant's known distribution and show that it grows at higher

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

s than previously thought. It is still considered a rare species. Threats to the survival of the species include

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classifi ...

mining,

off-road vehicle An off-road vehicle, sometimes referred to as an overland or adventure vehicle, is considered to be any type of vehicle which is capable of driving on and off paved or gravel surface. It is generally characterized by having large tires with dee ...

use, grazing, and development.''Cryptantha crinita''.
The Nature Conservancy.

Introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

of plants in the area are also a threat, including

red brome ''Bromus madritensis'' is a species of brome grass known by the common name compact brome. The specific epithet ''madritensis'' refers to Madrid, Spain. It has a diploid number of 28. There are two subspecies: *''Bromus madritensis'' subsp. ''ma ...

(''Bromus madritensis'' ssp. ''rubens''),

yellow starthistle ''Centaurea solstitialis'', the yellow star-thistle, is a species of thorny plant in the genus ''Centaurea'', which is part of the family Asteraceae. A winter annual, it is native to the Mediterranean Basin region and invasive in many other ...

(''Centaurea solstitialis''), and medusahead (''Taeniatherum caput-medusae'').

References

External links

CalPhotos Photo Gallery
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5190637

crinita ''Crinita'' is a genus of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae The AcrididaeMacLeay WS (1821) ''Horae Entomologicae or Essays on the Annulose Animals'' 2 are the predominant family of grasshoppers, comprising some 10,000 of the 1 ...

Endemic flora of California