Duration: Annual. Nativity: Native. Lifeform: Forb/Herb. General: Dwarf annual, 3.3-16 cm tall. Leaves: Narrowly linear to narrowly linear-spatulate, 1.8-9.5 cm, 1-2 mm wide, faintly 3-5 nerved. Flowers: Scapes 2.2-12 cm long, slender, sepals faintly 3-nerved, scarious margins or absent, about 2.5 mm long, slender spur 1.5 mm long; petals about equaling sepals, narrowly linear with claw 1-3 times as long as blade; spikes 1.5-5 cm long, 2-2.5 mm in diameter at maturity. Fruits: Achenes, outer face orbiculate or sometimes square, 1-1.3 mm long, base of beak surrounded by thickened ridge, light yellow. Ecology: Found on dry hillsides and canyon bottoms in shrubland and in moist ground along streams from 2,500-5,000 ft (762-1524 m); flowers February-April. Notes: The achene is the character that separates the Myosurus, in M. cupulatus the outer face of the achene is bordered by prominent ridge. Ethnobotany: Taken internally or as a lotion for ant bites or the effects of swallowing an ant. Etymology: Myosurus translates to mouse-tail, pertaining to receptacle when mature, while cupulatus means cup-shaped.

Santa Catalina Mountains.
Gordon Hirabayashi
Location: Arizona Trail 100 feet from end of campground.
3/19/17

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