General: Wingnut Cryptantha (Cryptantha pterocarya) is a small, upright annual forb with hairy, linear leaves and tiny white flowers (free part of petal 1–2.5 mm diam). Each fruit holds 4 nutlets. Nutlets papillate, one least one with winged margins. Difficult to identify without ripe nutlets.

Wingnut Cryptantha can be a common component of desert vegetation communities on sandy and gravel soils in the Lower Sonoran (Creosote-Bursage Flats), Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland) life zones.

Family: Borage (Boraginaceae).

Other Names: Forget-Me-Not.

Plant Form: Thin, upright stalk with short leaves topped with white flowers and nutlets.

Height: Often about 5 inches, to about 18 inches.

Stems: Usually one, upright, rough hairy.

Leaves: To about 2-inches long, narrow; rough-hairy to bristly. Basal leaves in groups; cauline leaves generally opposite and single.

Flowers: Blooms in the spring. Inflorescence terminal. Flowers tiny, white; bell-shaped with 5 petals.

Seeds: 4 nutlets. Nutlets papillate, one least one with a winged margin.

Habitat: Sandy to rocky desert soils.

Elevation: To about 7,000 feet.

Distribution: Western US.

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