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Cryptantha clevelandii

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Cryptantha clevelandii
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Boraginales
Family: Boraginaceae
Genus: Cryptantha
Species:
C. clevelandii
Binomial name
Cryptantha clevelandii

Cryptantha clevelandii is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common name Cleveland's cryptantha. It is native to coastal California and Baja California, where it grows in the chaparral and other habitat in the coastal hills. It is an annual herb growing a branching or unbranched stem up to 60 centimeters tall. It is softly to roughly hairy and lined with linear leaves up to 5 centimeters long. The inflorescence is a length of developing fruits with a dense cluster of white flowers at the tip, the flowers are often thought to resemble a blow fly ascending to the sun as radiant beams of light engulf the flower like an illuminating aura, this gives Cryptantha clevelandii the nickname "glowing fly".

Its specific epithet clevelandii honors 19th-century San Diego–based plant collector and lawyer Daniel Cleveland.[1]

References

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  1. ^ "Who was Salvia clevelandii named for?". Smarty Plant. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, the University of Texas at Austin. [T]he author of the species chose to honor Daniel Cleveland, a nineteenth-century lawyer, amateur botanist, plant collector and co-founder of the San Diego Society of Natural History. [Besides Salvia clevelandii,] there are a number of other species named in his honor, including: Cheilanthes clevelandii, Chorizanthe clevelandii, Cryptantha clevelandii, Dodecatheon clevelandii, Horkelia clevelandii, Malacothrix clevelandii, Mimulus clevelandii, Muilla clevelandii, Nicotiana clevelandii and Penstemon clevelandii. Moreover, the monotypic Mexican genus, Clevelandia (now included in Castilleja) was also named in Mr. Cleveland's honor.
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