E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Cryptantha torreyana var. torreyana (A. Gray) Greene
Boraginaceae (Borage family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

© Jamie Fenneman  Email the photographer   (Photo ID #13961)

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Distribution of Cryptantha torreyana var. torreyana
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Species Information

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General:
Annual herb from a taproot; stems simple or branched, with straight, appressed and spreading, stiff hairs, 10-40 cm tall.
Leaves:
Basal leaves smaller, withering; stem leaves linear to narrowly oblong, 0.3-3 cm long, uniformly hairy with somewhat appressed to spreading hairs, entire, alternate.
Flowers:
Inflorescence of naked, coiled "spikes", tending to be paired, typically raised somewhat above the leafier part of the plant; petals white, fused at base into a tube that spreads (about 1 mm wide) at the top to 5 tiny lobes, with 5 bulges at the throat; fruiting calyces 4-8 mm long, stiffly appressed-hairy and spreading-bristly.
Fruits:
Nutlets 4, clustered together, 1.5-2.3 mm long, egg-shaped, usually smooth and shining, with medial groove forked and closed at base.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Habitat / Range

Dry to mesic rocky slopes, grasslands and shrublands in the lowland and steppe zones; infrequent in SC BC and on S Vancouver Island; S to UT, WY and CA.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Links

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General References