The genus Cryptantha is indicated in the Intermountain Flora Vol. 4: (Cronquist et al. 1984) to comprise 150 New World species with two thirds of them found in western North America.  Most of the annual species belong to Sec. Krynitzkia in which the species are supposedly “well-defined.” However, this not always the case. In the California Jepson Manual, C. angustifolia in the key is indicated to have “nutlets” with rounded margins, whereas in Cronquist et al (1984) and also Abrams' Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States (1951), the “Angustifoliae” (5 spp.) is defined as having “sharply angled” mercarps (“nutlets”). 

Species identification generally requires mature mericarps, while a species may also vary in color and in development of its inflorescence.  In C. angustifolia, a common annual species in the California Mohave and Sonoran deserts, the inflorescence elongates as plants mature. The flowers initially appear in tight hemispherical clusters and elongate into “helicoid spikes” as plants mature.   Additionally, plants may appear dark green or lighter yellowish-green in color.  This species is also generally recognized by the sublinear subteretiform leaves that are often curved, and irritating hairs on the plant, especially on leaves and flowers.  This in contrast to another common annual species, C. maritima, which can be recognized by the relatively smaller flower and more bristly stems.  The identification for the photo of C. inaequata is based on the illustration in Abrams (1951).  This is treated as a synonym of C. angustifolia by Cronquist et al. (1984), while it is not mentioned in the Jepson Manual.  But I have recognized it by its flat leaves in contrast to the teretiform leaves of C. angustifolia. 

Cryptantha abata
Utah—Great Basin Desert. Dixie NF: Southside of road from trailhead to Casto Canyon, just W of Bryce Canyon Natl. Park; 37º47'07.1", 112º19.56.1", 2156 m. Over-grazed pinyon-juniper- sagebrush meadow.
Richard Spjut & Susan Spjut 16295
14 May 2008

Cryptantha angustifolia
E San Bernardino Co., CA
Spjut 15220, Apr 2003

Cryptantha angustifolia
Palm Springs, CA
Spjut 15757, Mar 2004

Cryptantha angustifolia
Newberry Mts., NV
Spjut 15285, May 2003

Cryptantha angustifolia
Mojave Desert, Spring Hills, off Hwy 127 N of Baker, CA, Feb 2008

Cryptantha angustifolia
Newberry Mts., NV
Spjut 15285, May 2003

Cryptantha angustifolia
Maria Mts., Colorado River
Spjut 15860, Mar 2005

Cryptantha angustifolia (right), Cryptantha maritima
(left, Spjut 15859). Maria Mts., Colorado River,
Mar 2005

Cryptantha angustifolia
CA: Mojave Desert, E of 29 Palms, Ironage Rd,
Spjut 16218, Feb 2008

Cryptantha angustifolia
E San Bernardino Co., CA
Spjut 15220, Apr 2003

Cryptantha barbigera
Kingston Range, CA
Spjut 15252, Apr 2003

Cryptantha barbigera
Maria Mts., Colorado
River, CA
Spjut 15861, Mar 2005

Cryptantha capitata
Utah—Great Basin Desert-Bonneville Basin Region. Millard Co.: Confusion Range, north side of Hwy 50, ~92 miles west of Delta; 1716 m. Limestone- sandstone outcrops in pinyon-juniper zone. Spjut & Burchstead 16366. 22 June 2008
 

Cryptantha circumscissa
Inyo Co., Panamint Valley CA, May 2006; photos in center and right by Susan Spjut

Cryptantha circumscissa
Nevada—Great Basin Desert. Nye Co., Monitor Range, Toiyabe NF/BLM, north off Hwy 6 on Stone Cabin and Willow Creek Roads; 1905 m. Sagebrush scrub in valley. 12 May 2008

Cryptantha circumscissa
Tulare Co., E Sierra Nevada CA,
Spjut 14804, Jun 2002

Cryptantha confertiflora
Mono Co., Sherwin Hill, CA
~6000 ft, Apr 2004

Cryptantha confertiflora
Clark Co., NV
Sandy Springs Rd.
~4000 ft, Apr 2005

Cryptantha flava
Utah—Great Basin Desert. Garfield Co.: Hwy 95, between jct with Hwy 276 and Glen Canyon Natl. Rec. Area; 417 m. Cottonwood with sagebrush in canyon.  Richard Spjut & Susan Spjut 16304. 16 May 2008

Cryptantha flavoculata
Nevada—Mojave Desert. Clark Co., Spring Mts., Spjut 16260, Apr 2008

Cryptantha flavoculata
Nevada—Mojave Desert. Nye Co., E of Lida., Spjut 16283, May 2008

Cryptantha aff. flavoculata
Nevada—Calcareous Mts. White Pine Co., Humboldt-Toiyabe NF, Ely Ranger Dist.: Schell Creek Range, Connor Pass, south  side off Hwy 50/6; 39º02'00.4", 114º58.45.7", 2414 m.  Pinyon-juniper woodland on limestone derived soil. Caespitose with woody-rhizome complex; flowering stems generally few, green to yellowish green, relatively short, flush to slightly exserted above the leaves; corolla white, long exserted with constriction below the petal lobes and with long fornices; mericarps 4, pale greenish with white ripples, homomorphic, narrow margined. Sample of entire plant (rt-st-lf-fl-fr). Richard Spjut & Paul Burchstead 16358, 22 June 2008

Cryptantha glomeriflora

North End of Owens Valley, just north of Bishop, CA.  May 2006

Cryptantha holoptera

Imperial Co., Palo Verde Mountains, Spjut 16236, April 2008.

Cryptantha inequata. Mericarps generally 3, or sometimes 4, similar to C. barbigera in topography, flowers smaller, stems decumbent, not erect. San Bernardino Co., CA, Kelbaker Rd, Mar 2008

Cryptantha intermedia
Peninsular Ranges, CA,
Spjut 15210, Apr 2003

Cryptantha maritima
Mojave Desert, CA, NW of Baker
Spjut 16201, Feb 2008

Cryptantha maritima
Spjut 15859. Maria Mts., Colorado River, CA
Mar 2005

Cryptantha micrantha
Kern Co.: Mojave Desert, Jawbone Canyon, CA April 2011

Cryptantha muricata
Peninsular Ranges, CA,
Spjut 15212, Apr 2003

Cryptantha muricata
Transverse Ranges, CA,
Spjut 15338, Jun 2003

Cryptantha cf muricata
Peninsular Ranges, CA,
Spjut 15215, Apr 2003

Cryptantha muricata
Transverse Ranges, CA,
Spjut & Marin 15306,
May 2003

Cryptantha nevadensis
CNPS Survey, north drainage of El Paso Mountains, Apr 2010.

Cryptantha oxygona
Kern Co., Caliente Range, Bitter Creek Natl. Wildlife Refuge,
Mar 2010.

Cryptantha pterocarya
near  Sheep Hole Mts., CA,
Spjut 15830, Mar 2005
 

Cryptantha pterocarya
near California City, CA,
Spjut 15877B, Mar 2005

Cryptantha racemosa
Spjut 15856. Palo Verde Mts., Mar 2005

Cryptantha simulans
Transverse Ranges, CA,
Spjut 15179, Apr 2003 

Cryptantha cf torreyana

California: Kern Co., CNPS Chapter field trip, Greenhorn Mts., Rancheria Rd., 25 May 2013

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Cryptantha tumulosa
Esmeralda Co., NV,
June 2007

Cryptantha utahensis
Spring Mts., Potosi Camp Rd, NV
16 Apr 2008, SPJ-16261

Cryptantha virginensis
Spring Mts., Potosi Camp Rd, NV
May 2006

Trees and Shrubs of Kern County (Jan 2013)

Oreocarya confertiflora Greene 1896 [Cryptantha confertiflora (Greene) Payson 1927].  Mojave popcorn flower.  Woody and leafy near base, leaves simple, erect, narrowly elliptical, more than 4× longer than wide, densely hairy, often silvery; flowers Apr–Jun, the flower stems several or more, erect, bearing many yellow flowers clustered near the tips.  Primarily centered in the Mojave Desert, extending into the Great Basin Desert, usually above the creosote belt, on rocky limestone soils, southern California, Nevada, Utah and northern Arizona. Type from Cushenberry Springs, desert slopes of the San Bernardino Mts., CA. Kern Co.:  Erskine Creek, Mt. Laura in the Piute Mts. (CCH: Purpus, 1897 and 1898); this collection explicitly excluded from the flora by Twisselmann, but the species subsequently recollected on Mt. Laura in the Piute Mts. (Moe; CCH specimens, Shevock Apr 1984; York & Carter May 1996), and also reported from Long Canyon (Keeler-Wolf 1990).  Recent molecular studies (Hasenstab-Lehman & Simpson 2012) place the species in the genus Oreocarya where it had been first described and also classified earlier by Abrams; subsequently treated in Cryptantha (Munz, Intermountain Flora, JM1, JM2).