Oreocarya aperta Eastw. (1903:241)
Grand Junction cryptantha, Grand Junction cat's-eye
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Cryptantha aperta (Eastw.) Payson in Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 14: 295 (1927)
Conservation Status
Extinct (WCMC, 1992:215; Humphreys et al., 2019; Knapp et al., 2021; Albani Rocchetti et al., 2022; POWO, 2024; Christenhusz & Govaerts, 2025; NatureServe, 2026)
Last record: June 1892 (Ripley, 1975:41 [as 1892]; Knapp et al., 2021; Christenhusz & Govaerts, 2025 [as 1892]; NatureServe, 2026)
Distribution & Habitat
the vicinity of Grand Junction, western Colorado, USA
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Eastwood, A. (1903). New species of Oreocarya. Bull. Torrey Botanical Club 30: 238-246.
Other references:
Ackerfield, J. (2015). Flora of Colorado. Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Fort Worth, TX. 818 pp.
Albani Rocchetti, Giulia, Carta, Angelino, Mondoni, Andrea, Godefroid, Sandrine, Davis, Charles C., Caneva, Giulia, Albrecht, Matthew A., Alvarado, Karla, Bijmoer, Roxali, Borosova, Renata, Bräuchler, Christian, Breman, Elinor, Briggs, Marie, Buord, Stephane, Cave, Lynette H., Da Silva, Nílber Gonçalves, Davey, Alexandra H., Davies, Rachael M., Dickie, John B., Fabillo, Melodina, Fleischmann, Andreas, Franks, Andrew, Hall, Geoffrey, Kantvilas, Gintaras, Klak, Cornelia, Liu, Udayangani, Medina, Leopoldo, Reinhammar, Lars Gunnar, Sebola, Ramagwai J., Schönberger, Ines, Sweeney, Patrick, Voglmayr, Hermann, White, Adam, Wieringa, Jan J., Zippel, Elke Zippel and Abeli, Thomas. (2022). Selecting the best candidates for resurrecting extinct-in-the-wild plants from herbaria. Nature Plants 8: 1385-1393. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01296-7 [Supplementary Tables S1-S6]
Christenhusz, Maarten J. M. and Govaerts, Rafaël. (2023). Uitgestorven. Op plantenjacht rond de wereld: 1-511. Sterck & De Vreese.
Christenhusz, Maarten J. M. and Govaerts, Rafaël. (2025). Plant extinction in the Anthropocene. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 207(3): 183-196. https://doi.org/10.1093/botlinnean/boae045 [Appendix S1]
Colorado Native Plant Society. (1989). Rare plants of Colorado. Rocky Mountain Nature Association, Colorado Native Plant Society, Estes Park, Colorado. 73 pp.
Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP). (2024). Biodiversity Tracking and Conservation System (Biotics 5). Colorado Natural Heritage Program, Colorado State University, Fort Collins.
CPC. (1990). Centre for plant conservation data for North American plants database. CPC, Centre for plant conservation.
Flora of North America Editorial Committee (FNA). (year?). Flora of North America north of Mexico. Vol. 15. Magnoliophyta: Fouquieriaceae to Boraginaceae. Oxford Univ. Press, New York.
Govaerts, R. (1999). World Checklist of Seed Plants 3(1, 2a & 2b): 1-1532. MIM, Deurne.
Humphreys, Aelys M., Govaerts, Rafaël, Ficinski, Sarah Z., Lughadha, Eimear Nic and Vorontsova, Maria S. (2019). Global dataset shows geography and life form predict modern plant extinction and rediscovery. Nature Ecology & Evolution 3: 1043-1047. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0906-2 [Supplementary Dataset 1]
Johnston, B. C. (1979). Status information for Astragalus microcymbus and Cryptantha aperta. U.S. Forest Service Summary Sheet.
Kartesz, J. T. (1994). A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. 2nd edition. 2 vols. Timber Press, Portland, OR.
Knapp, Wesley M., Frances, Anne, Noss, Reed, Naczi, Robert F. C., Weakley, Alan, Gann, George D., Baldwin, Bruce G., Miller, James, McIntyre, Patrick, Mishler, Brent D., Moore, Gerry, Olmstead, Richard G., Strong, Anna, Kennedy, Kathryn, Heidel, Bonnie and Gluesenkamp, Daniel. (2021). Vascular plant extinction in the continental United States and Canada. Conservation Biology 35(1): 360-368. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13621 [Supporting Information (Appendix S1)]
NatureServe. (2026). Oreocarya aperta: Grand Junction Cat's-eye. NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer [web application]. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Available at: https://explorer.natureserve.org/ [Accessed on 20 August 2026]
Payson, E. B. (1927). A monograph of the section Oreocarya of Cryptantha. Annuals Missouri Botanical Garden 14: 211-358.
POWO. (2024). Oreocarya aperta Eastw. Plants of the World Online (online resource). Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. Available at: https://powo.science.kew.org/ [Accessed 4 February 2024]
Ripley, S. Dillon. (1975). Report on endangered and threatened species of the United States. House Document 94-51: 1-200 [41].
Rydberg, P. A. (1906). Flora of Colorado. Experiment Station Fort Collins, CO. pp. 448.
WCMC (World Conservation Monitoring Centre). (1992). Global Biodiversity: Status of the Earth's living resources. London: Chapman & Hall. xx + 594 pp.
Weber, W. A. and Wittmann, R. C. (2000). Catalog of the Colorado Flora, University Press of Colorado, Niwot, CO. 1992 (revised electronic version, Jan 2000).
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