THICKSEPAL CRYPTANTHA
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Cryptantha crassisepala   (T. & G. ) Greene
Morton County, Kansas
Annual
Height: To 6 inches tall
Family: Boraginaceae - Borage Family
Flowering Period:   May, June, July
Also Called: Thicksepal catseye.
Stems: Decumbent to ascending, branching from base, bristly-hairy; branches crowded.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, mostly sessile, linear to lanceolate, .4 to 1.2 inch long, to 1/8 inch wide, stiff-hairy; margins entire, tips pointed to rounded.
Inflorescences: Cyme, 1 to 5 inches long, elongate and raceme-like with age, terminal on branches; no bractlets at bases of flowers.
Flowers: Sepals 5, equal, lanceolate; calyx in fruit 1/8 to 1/4 inch long, bristly-hairy; bristles translucent, to 1/12 inch long; corolla 1/25 to 1/12 inch wide, 5-lobed, white, throat appendages sometimes yellow; stamens 5.
Fruits: Nutlets 4, covered with minute bumps; each containing single seed.
Habitat: Sand-sage prairie, prairie slopes, prairie-dog towns; dry, sandy or silty soils.
Distribution: West 1/2 of Kansas
Origin: Native
Uses: Native Americans considered the plant to be a poisonous weed, but crushed and boiled the plant and applied it as a lotion for itching, boils, and fatigued limbs.
Comments: Cryptantha crassisepala strongly resembles Cryptantha minima but the latter species has bractlets at the bases of the flowers.

Thicksepal cryptantha inflorescence
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Morton County, Kansas
Thicksepal cryptantha flowers
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Morton County, Kansas
Thicksepal cryptantha
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Morton County, Kansas
Thicksepal cryptantha
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Morton County, Kansas
Thicksepal cryptantha
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Cimarron National Grassland, Morton County, Kansas
Thicksepal cryptantha
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Cimarron National Grassland, Morton County, Kansas