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