Oreocarya insolita J.F.Macbr. (1916:28)
Las Vegas cryptantha, Unusual cat’s-eye
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Cryptantha insolita (J.F.Macbr.) Payson in Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 14: 273 (1927)
Considered a synonym of C. virginensis by (Govaerts, 1999 fide POWO, 2024; POWO, 2018 fide Humphreys et al., 2019).
Conservation Status
Extinct (WCMC, 1992:215; Knapp et al., 2021; POWO, 2024; Tiehm, 2026)
Last record (disputed): 1905 (Ripley, 1975:41); 1 May 1940 (Tiehm, 2026); 1942 (Mozingo & Williams, 1980; Knapp et al., 2021)
Distribution & Habitat
Clark County, Nevada, USA
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Holotype: Goodding 2286 (collected Las Vegas area, 4 May 1905) (Holotype RM: Isotypes GH, MINN, MO, NY, RENO) (Tiehm, 2026)
Other specimens:
F.H. Barkley 4096 (collected from an artesian well 4 miles NW of Las Vegas, May 1939) (GH, MONTU) (Tiehm, 2026)
Ripley and Barneby 4294 (collected from alkaline clay hills, North Las Vegas, 1 May 1940) (GH) (Tiehm, 2026)
K. Brandegee s.n. (collected Las Vegas area, no date but likely 1915) (UC) (Tiehm, 2026)
Jones s.n. (Las Vegas, 29 Apr 1905) (POM) (Tiehm, 2026)
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Macbride, J. F. (1916). Revision of the genus Oreocarya. Contributions from the Gray Herbarium 48: 20-38.
Other references:
Albani Rocchetti, G., Carta, A., Mondoni, A. et al. (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]
CPC. (1990). Centre for plant conservation data for North American plants database. CPC, Centre for plant conservation.
Cronquist, A. (1984). Boraginaceae, pp. 207-293. In: A Cronquist, AH Holmgren, NH Holmgren, JL Reveal, PK Holmgren, eds. Intermountain Flora, vol. 4. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York.
Govaerts, R. (1999). World Checklist of Seed Plants 3(1, 2a & 2b): 1-1532. MIM, Deurne.
Higgins, L. C. (1971). A revision of Cryptantha subgeus Oreocarya. Brigham Young University Science Bulletin, Biological Series. Vol. 13: 4. 63 pp.
Higgins, L. C. (1979). Boraginaceae of the southwest-ern United States. Great Basin Naturalist 39(4): 293-350.
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]
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)]
Mozingo, H. N. and Williams, M. (1980). Threatened and endangered plants of Nevada. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, Oregon. 268 pp.
Payson, E. B. (1927). A monograph of the section Oreocarya of Cryptantha. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Gardens 14: 211-358.
POWO. (2018). Plants of the World online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. http://e-monocot.org/.
POWO. (2024). Plants of the World Online (online resource). Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. Available at: https://powo.science.kew.org/ [Accessed 23 April 2024]
Ripley, S. Dillon. (1975). Report on endangered and threatened species of the United States. House Document 94-51: 1-200 [41].
Simpson, M. G., Guilliams, C. M., Hasenstab-Lehman, K. E., Mabry, M. E. and Ripma, L. (2017). Phylogeny of the popcorn flowers: Use of genome skimming to evaluate monophyly and interrelationships in subtribe Amsinckiinae (Boraginaceae). Taxon66(6): 1406-1420. doi:10.12705/666.8
Tidestrom, I. F. (1925). Flora of Utah and Nevada. Con-tributions from the United States National Her-barium 25: 1-665.
Tiehm, Arnold. (2026). Oreocarya insolita: what was in Vegas is no longer in Vegas. Journal of Lost Species 1. https://doi.org/10.66264/yu11rk2f
Walter, Kerry S. and Gillett, Harriet J. (eds.). (1998). 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants. Compiled by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Gland, Switzerland & Cambridge, UK: IUCN – The World Conservation Union. lxiv + 862 pp.
WCMC (World Conservation Monitoring Centre). (1992). Global Biodiversity: Status of the Earth's living resources. London: Chapman & Hall. xx + 594 pp.