Roughseed Cryptantha-Cryptantha flavoculata

I noticed this beautiful white flower blooming last week and saw that although it was a cryptantha, it was different from the James' Cryptantha I had previously seen. At first the white flowers look very similar, but the yellow part on these stick out a little more, and the leaves are a different shape, color, and size. This is Roughseed Cryptantha, also called Yellow-eye Cryptantha (Cryptantha flavoculata). Because the flowers emerge from a basal leaves, some botanists refer to this genus as Oreocarya.

When the plants grow close together, they provide beautiful bursts of color on the pinyon pine/juniper forest floor.

Here's a closeup where you can see the yellow appendages that stick out quite a bit from the white petals of the flower. Cryptanthas in general are very hairy, and you can see the dense hairs on the leaves.

In this picture you can see another characteristic of this species: the corolla tube is longer than the calyx (or in other words, the yellow part of the corolla tube sticks out from the green part of the calyx).

To learn more about Roughseed Cryptantha, click here.