WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

You probably won’t pick the tiny 1/4 inch wide flowers, but if you do beware of the minute, prickly bristles that cover the stems, leaves, and flower parts. Multiple  2–6-inch long stems, spreading or erect, branch from the base with flowers on a one-sided curving spike with a hooked end. New Mexico has 20 species of Cryptantha, many widespread and almost indistinguishable.

FLOWERS: March–June. White with yellow throat scales, 5 petal-like lobes, each 1/32–1/4-inch (1–6 mm) wide, united at base to form a tube. The most common variety, var. elechantha, has petals 1/8-inch (3 mm) wide or less. The flowering stem curves at the tip as it develops with pairs of bristly seed pods, to 1/4-inch long (6 mm), pointing upward. The tiny nutlets distinguish several Cryptantha species. Each C. crassisepia flower produces 4 rough, tear-shaped nutlets, 1/16-inch (2 mm) long, with one slightly larger (use 10x lens or microscope).  

LEAVES: Basal cluster and alternate on stem. Blade linear to lance-shaped, 3/4–2 1/2 inches (2–6 cm) long, 1/8–1/4 inch wide (3–6 mm), smaller up the stem; margins entire, densely covered with prickly hairs.

HABITAT: Clay, sandy, gravelly soils; pinyon-juniper, grasslands, dunes, roadsides, disturbed areas.

ELEVATION: 3,300–7,200 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CO, KS, NM, OK, TX, UT.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The perennial Bow-nut Cryptantha, C. cinerea, has a woody base, grows 2–5-inches tall, has flowers to 3/8 inch wide, and has 4 identical smooth nutlets.

NM COUNTIES: Nearly statewide (not reported for Colfax County).