Scientific Family
Boraginaceae
Synonyms
Krynitzkia decipiens
Other common names
Gravel-bar cat's-eye
gravel-bar catseye
gravel cryptantha
wild forget-me-not
Plant type
Forbs and Subshrubs
Origin
Native
Lifecycle
Annual
Height
4 to 16 inches
Riparian
No
Small annual, 4 to 16 inches long; covered with stiff, stinging, white hairs; loosely branched, often growing in small bunches. Flowers in flat-topped clusters in which the central flowers open first, followed by the peripheral flowers.
Slender annual; leaves few, narrow, smooth margined, stiff, white, stinging hairs; flowers tiny, white in flat-topped clusters; sepals erect or spreading; nutlets 1 or 2, alike, margins rounded, not sharp, roughened, surpass or barely surpass the style.
Habitat
Open, gravelly, occasionally sandy, slopes and washes, grasslands, scrublands, Joshua-tree woodlands.
Plant Community
Interior Chaparral
Desert Scrub
Low elevation
2000
High elevation
4000
Flower Characteristics
2 to 3 tiny flowers tightly constricted at base, converging but not fused, with spreading tips; tube up to 1/2 inch long; mid-vein thickened; appearing white, more so due to the stiff hairs; flat-topped flower clusters are dense to open.
Flower color
White
Flower shape
Regular
Tubular
Yes
First bloom month
March
Last bloom month
May
Flower clusters
Rounded
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Leaves few in number; simple, smooth, narrow and rounded at tip; covered with stiff, white, stinging hairs; basal leaves whorled, opposite near the base, becoming alternate as one moves up the stem.
Leaf type
Simple
Leaf color
Green
Leaf shape
Narrow
Leaf margin
Smooth
Leaves clasp
No
Leaf hairs
Leaves & stems
Spines
No
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
1 to 2 narrow, egg-shaped and same sized nutlets; generally smooth, white or brown, granular; curved outward on the back, flat on the front, rounded on the sides.
Fruit type
Nutlet
Fruit color
White or brown