dentnut cryptantha
Oreocarya depressa (M.E.Jones) J.F.Macbr.
Dentnut cryptantha is a compact perennial of dry western landscapes. The specialist treatment at San Diego State University places the supplied name under Oreocarya depressa. Its many short stems arise in a tuft that can spread into a low mat. This persistent growth form distinguishes its life history from the annual cryptanthas familiar in many desert wildflower displays. San Diego State University: Oreocarya systematicsHiggins 1979: Boraginaceae of the southwestern United States
Botanical name
The San Diego State University specialist treatment equates Cryptantha abata I.M.Johnst. with Oreocarya depressa (M.E.Jones) J.F.Macbr. San Diego State University: Oreocarya systematics
Recognizing the plant
Higgins’s regional flora describes stems about five to eighteen centimetres tall and spoon-shaped to narrowly reversed-lance-shaped leaves. Several kinds of hairs cover the foliage, including short appressed hairs and longer bristles. The white flowers have a short tube and yellow raised structures in the throat. Mature nutlets provide a particularly valuable character: their inner surfaces are deeply and irregularly wrinkled, rather than simply smooth. Higgins 1979: Boraginaceae of the southwestern United States
Bloom window
Southwestern United States
Higgins gives April through July as the flowering season within this southwestern regional treatment. Higgins 1979: Boraginaceae of the southwestern United States
Native range
The regional treatment records sandy or gravelly ground in sagebrush and pinyon–juniper vegetation, from eastern Nevada through southern and western Utah into northwestern Arizona. Its reported elevation band is approximately 4,000 to 9,000 feet. Higgins 1979: Boraginaceae of the southwestern United States
Botanical sources
- San Diego State University: Oreocarya systematics
- Higgins 1979: Boraginaceae of the southwestern United States
Reviewed 2026-10-11. Seasonal development varies with location and growing conditions.