Southwest Colorado Wildflowers, Oreocarya

Oreocaryas are lovely plants with an abundance of tiny flowers, hairy leaves very evident in early spring, and persisting dried flower stalks. The Oreocarya genus is quite similar in appearance and characteristics to the Cryptantha genus, and, in fact, many members of the Cryptantha genus were at first placed in the Oreocarya genus. In 1927 Edwin Payson moved these Oreocarya into the Cryptantha genus and this move has been accepted by most botanists since then. Colorado plant authority William Weber has gone back to the original designation of Oreocarya for a number of these plants.

Weber separates the Oreocarya genus from the Cryptantha genus 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."

Whatever the genus name, it is difficult to determine the exact species of most members of these two genera; often the distinguishing characteristic is the shape of the nutlet.

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

Click for more Oreocarya and for Cryptantha.

Synonym: Oreocarya humilis. Cryptantha humilis. (Cryptantha)
Boraginaceae (Forget-Me-Not Family)

Semi-desert. Openings. Spring.
Colorado, near Four Corners, April 17, 2010.

Oreocarya humilis spreads low along the ground but sends up straight, vertical flower stems from four to eight inches tall. The inflorescence (the flower cluster) is conspicuously very hairy. O. humilis is not common in the Four Corners where it is almost at its most eastern occurrence, but westward through Utah and Nevada it becomes a common Oreocarya.

Welsh indicates that this is the "most variable of all Utah Cryptanthas".

Edward Greene named this plant Oreocarya humilis in 1896 from a collection he made in the same year in Nevada. Edwin Payson placed the plant in the Cryptantha genus in 1927 and most botanists today agree with that genus name.

"Humilis" is Latin for "low".

Synonym: Oreocarya humilis. Cryptantha humilis. (Cryptantha)
Boraginaceae (Forget-Me-Not Family)

Semi-desert. Spring. Openings.
Colorado, near Four Corners, April 17, 2010.

Synonym: Oreocarya humilis. Cryptantha humilis. (Cryptantha)
Boraginaceae (Forget-Me-Not Family)

Semi-desert. Openings. Spring.
Colorado, near Four Corners, April 17, 2010.

Synonym: Oreocarya paradoxa. Cryptantha paradoxa. (Cryptantha)
Boraginaceae (Forget-Me-Nots)

Semi-desert. Openings. Spring.
Utah, near the Four Corners, April 17, 2010.

This lovely plant is far less common than most of the other Oreocaryas and Cryptanthas shown in this web site. As the range map below shows, O. paradoxa has a very limited range in eastern Utah, western Colorado, and one northwestern county in New Mexico.

O. paradoxa grows no more than about four inches tall, has long, soft hairs, and has fornices (those yellow protrusions at the base of the white petals) no more than a millimeter high.

Aven Nelson named this plant Oreocarya paradoxa in 1913 from a collection made by Walker in Montrose, Colorado. Edwin Payson placed the plant in the Cryptantha genus in 1927 and most botanists today agree with that genus name.

"Paradoxa" is Greek for "incredible" or "marvelous".

Synonym: Oreocarya paradoxa. Cryptantha paradoxa. (Cryptantha)
Boraginaceae (Forget-Me-Nots)

Semi-desert. Openings. Spring.
Utah, near the Four Corners, April 17, 2010.

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Oreocarya humilis

Range map for Oreocarya humilis (Cryptantha humilis)

Oreocarya paradoxa

Range map for Oreocarya paradoxa (Cryptantha paradoxa)