James' Cryptantha-Cryptantha cinerea

Poking up from the gravel in a sagebrush/pinyon/juniper area are these compact little flowers in the Borage Family (Boraginaceae). They appear to be James' cyrptantha (Cryptantha cinerea var. abortiva). Often there are multiple common names for a family, but this one also has multiple genus names: Cryptantha and  Oreocarya. The general difference observed by some botanists is as follows:

Oreocarya: "Biennial or perennial from rosettes of basal leaves; flowers more than 5 mm in diameter, often distinctly long-tubular with prominent yellow eye."

Cryptantha: "Annual without rosettes of basal leaves; flowers minute, less than 5 mm diameter, short-tubed with inconspicuous eye."

"Oreos" is Greek for "mountain" and "caryum" is Greek for "nut".

"Cryptantha" is Greek for "hidden flower" and probably refers to the very small size of the flower.

I've chosen to use Cryptantha because that's what the USDA Plants database uses. 

There are many species of cryptantha, generally low growing, fairly inconspicuous flowers. 

It's always interesting to see what insects are using the plants.

For more information about James' Cryptantha, click here.