Cryptantha circumscissa (Cushion Cryptantha, Cushion Catseye)

7/5/16 Near Rush Creek below Grant Lake Overlook, June Lake Loop (SR 158), 

Eastern Sierra, Mono County, CA

5/13/00 Devil's Punchbowl Natural Area, San Gabriel Mountains, Los Angeles County, CA

2/22/03 Trail to Painted Rock, Carrizo Plain National Monument, 
San Luis Obispo County, CA

LIFE LIST NOTES:

COMMON NAME: Cushion Cryptantha, Cushion Catseye

SPECIES: Cryptantha circumscissa

FAMILY: Boraginaceae (Borage Family)

LIFE LIST DATE: 5/13/2000

LOCATION: Devil's Punchbowl Natural Area, San Gabriel Mountains, Los Angeles County, CA

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Treatment from The Jepson Manual (1993):

Annual < 10 cm, cushion-like; taproot generally red, purple when dry

Stem much-branched throughout, strigose and bristly or rough-hairy; hairs generally ascending

Leaf 0.3–1.5 cm, linear to narrowly oblanceolate, bristly to rough-hairy; hairs ± ascending

Inflorescence axillary or in branch forks; flowers 1–5 per cluster, dense in fruit

Flower: sepals 1.5–2 mm, 2.5–4 mm and circumscissile below middle in fruit, hairs ± like leaves; corolla limb 1–6 mm wide, appendages generally yellow

Fruit: nutlets 3–4, ± 1.5–2 mm, ovate, back generally smooth, shiny, generally mottled gray and brown, groove ± open below middle, forked at base

Ecology: Sandy soils

Elevation: 300–3700 m.  

Bioregional distribution: Sierra Nevada, s San Joaquin Valley, Inner South Coast Ranges, e South Coast, Transverse Ranges, e Peninsular Ranges, Great Basin Floristic Province, Desert  

Distribution outside California: to Washington, Colorado; also in s S.America

Flowering time: Jul–Aug

Synonyms: vars. hispida (J.F. Macbr.) I.M. Johnst., rosulata J.T. Howell 

Plants from n SnGb, w SnBr, sw DMoj with corolla limb 3.5–6 mm wide, throat yellow, 2n=12, have been called  C. similis K. Mathew & P.H. Raven. Corolla limb width intergrades in some places.