Calyptridium umbellatum

{{Short description|Plant species in the springbeauty family}}

{{Speciesbox

| name = Mount Hood pussypaws

| image = Cistanthe umbellata 22872.JPG

| status = {{TNCStatus}}

| status_system = TNC

| status_ref = {{Cite NatureServe |date=28 February 2025 |id=2.132917 |title=Cistanthe umbellata |access-date=22 March 2025}}

| genus = Calyptridium

| species = umbellatum

| authority = (Torr.) Greene

| synonyms_ref = {{cite POWO |id=43482-2 |title=Calyptridium umbellatum (Torr.) Greene |access-date=22 March 2025}}

| synonyms = {{Collapsible list | {{Species list

| Calyptridium nudum |

| Calyptridium paniculatum |

| Calyptridium umbellatum var. caudiciferum |

| Cistanthe umbellata |

| Cistanthe umbellata var. caudicifera |

| Spraguea candicifera |

| Spraguea montana |

| Spraguea multiceps |

| Spraguea nuda |

| Spraguea paniculata |

| Spraguea umbellata |

| Spraguea umbellata var. caudicifera |

| Spraguea umbellata var. montana |

}}

}}

}}

Calyptridium umbellatum, synonym Cistanthe umbellata, is a species of flowering plant in the montia family known by the common name Mount Hood pussypaws or — especially outside the Pacific Northwest — simply pussy-paws.{{cite web |title=Calyptridium umbellatum |url=https://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-calrecnum=1344 |publisher=CalFlora |accessdate=16 January 2020}}

Range

Calyptridium umbellatum is native to western North America from British Columbia to California to Colorado, where it grows in a number of habitat types, including areas inhospitable to many other plant types, such as those with alpine climates.

A small subgroup of C. umbellatum are located in the Zayante Sandhills, a biological island in the Santa Cruz Mountains.{{cite web |title=The Rare Santa Cruz Sandhills and the People who Love Them |url=https://baynature.org/article/the-rare-santa-cruz-sandhills-and-the-people-who-love-them/ |website=Bay Nature Magazine |accessdate=16 January 2020 |date=13 April 2012}} These individuals reside on a singular hill in the entirety of the sandhills, and their frail petals and loose seeds allow for easy wind dispersal.

Habit

It is a perennial herb forming generally two or more basal rosettes of thick, spoon-shaped leaves each a few centimeters long. The inflorescence arises from the rosette, a dense, spherical umbel of rounded sepals and four small petals.

C. umbellatum usually has only one inflorescence per basal rosette; the related C. monospermum generally has more than one.{{cite web |title=Key to Calyptridium |url=http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_keys.php?key=68199 |publisher=Jepson Herbarium |accessdate=16 January 2020}}

References

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