16 

 Cr yptantha fendleri (Gray) Greene 



I. SPECIES INFORMATION 



A. CLASSIFICATION 



1. SCIENTIFIC NAME: Cr yptantha fendleri 



2. COMMON NAME: Fendler's cryptantha 



3. FAMILY: Boraginaceae 



4. GENUS: The genus Cr yptantha 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: Cr yptantha 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 = SI) . 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: Cryptantha fendleri is an 

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

 branched; stem strigose and spreading-hirsute; leaves 



