Cryptantha gypsophila (Boraginaceae: Boraginoideae), a new species from western Colorado

Abstract

Abstract Cryptantha gypsophila, a new species of sect. Oreocarya, is described from gypsum outcrops in widely scattered valleys of Mesa, Montrose, and San Miguel counties of western Colorado. It can be distinguished from the related and more widespread, C. paradoxa by having leaf blades with a glabrous upper surface and a lower surface with conspicuously pustulate-based bristles rather than uniformly sericeous-strigose to villous leaf blade surfaces.