Crvptantha fendleri (Gray) Greene 



I. SPECIES INFORMATION 



A. CLASSIFICATION 



1. SCIENTIFIC NAME: Cryptantha fendleri 



2. COMMON NAME: Fendler's cryptantha 



3. FAMILY: Boraginaceae 



4. GENUS: The genus Cryptantha contains approximately 

 150 species native to western North America and 

 western South America. (Name from the Greek kryptos, 

 hidden, and anthos , flower, referring to the 

 cleistogamous flowers of the original South American 

 species) . 



5. SPECIES: Cryptantha fendleri is a cordilleran 

 species that frequents sand dunes or very sandy 

 soils. It is rare in Montana, but has been 

 documented in Sheridan County (Dorn, 1984) . 



B. PRESENT LEGAL OR OTHER FORMAL STATUS 



1. BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT: Cryptantha 



fendleri is proposed as a watch species for the 

 Dillon Resource Area. Documentation of it on 

 BLM lands in this study provides basis for 

 changing its proposed status to sensitive. 



2. STATE: Crvptantha fendleri is currently listed 

 by the Montana Natural Heritage Program as 

 "critically imperiled because of extreme rarity 

 (5 or fewer occurrences, or very few remaining 

 individuals) , or because of some factor of its 

 biology making it especially vulnerable to 

 extinction" (state rank = 81) . No changes to MTHP 

 rank are recommended based on this study. 



C. DESCRIPTION 



1. GENERAL NONTECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Cryptantha 

 fendleri is a diffusely branched annual, 

 approximately 1-4 dm tall. The nutlets are 

 lanceolate and smooth. The margins of 



the nutlets are rounded or blunt. 



2. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Crvptantha fendleri is an 

 annual, 1-4 dm. tall, subsimple or often much 

 branched; stem strigose and spreading-hirsute ; leaves 



