Greeneocharis circumscissa

Greeneocharis circumscissa is a species of flowering plant in the borage family,[1] known by the common name cushion cryptantha. It is native to western North America from Washington to Baja California to Colorado and it is also found in Argentina.[2] It grows in sandy or gravelly types of habitat, from mountains to desert, below 9,500 m (31,200 ft) above sea level.[3]

Greeneocharis circumscissa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Boraginales
Family:	Boraginaceae
Genus:	Greeneocharis
Species:	G. circumscissa
Binomial name
Greeneocharis circumscissa (Hook. & Arn.) Rydb.
Synonyms
List Cryptantha circumscissa (Hook. & Arn.) I.M.Johnst. Cryptantha circumscissa var. genuina I.M.Johnst. Eritrichium circumscissum (Hook. & Arn.) A.Gray Krynitzkia circumcissa (Hook. & Arn.) A.Gray Lithospermum circumscissum Hook. & Arn. Piptocalyx circumscissus (Hook. & Arn.) Torr. Wheelerella circumcissa (Hook. & Arn.) G.B.Grant

This is an annual herb producing a short, bristly, multi-branched stem tangled into a mat no more than 10 centimeters tall. It grows from a red taproot which dries purple. The leaves are up to 1.5 centimeters long, linear to widely lance-shaped, and densely hairy to bristly. The inflorescence is a length of developing fruits with a dense cluster of up to 5 flowers at the tip. The flower has a five-lobed white corolla with yellow appendages at the top of its tube. It flowers between April and August.[3]

It was first published in Bull. Torrey Bot. Club vol.36 on page 677 in 1909.[1]

The Latin specific epithet circumscissa is derived from the Latin for "cut around" because the upper half of the fruiting calyx falls away when the nutlets are ripe.[4]

It has 3 known variants;[1]

• Greeneocharis circumscissa var. circumscissa
• Greeneocharis circumscissa var. hispida J.F.Macbr.
• Greeneocharis circumscissa var. rosulata (J.T.Howell) Hasenstab & M.G.Simpson