Plant Name

Scientific Name: Cryptantha spp.

Common Names: Cryptantha, Popcorn Flower

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Annual, Perennial

Growth Habit: Herb/Forb

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Desert, Upland

Flower Color: White, Yellow

Flowering Season: Spring

Height: Various species from 4 inches to 2 feet (10 to 61 cm) tall

Description: The flowers are small, tubular, 5-lobed, and in hairy, terminal-coiling flower cymes. The flowers are followed by tiny nutlets. The leaves are green, usually hairy or bristly, opposite to alternate, and elongated in shape.

There are 36 species of Cryptantha found here in Arizona, and most are white-flowered spring annuals.

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Lamiales
Family: Boraginaceae – Borage family
Genus: Cryptantha Lehm. ex G. Don – cryptantha