Calyptridium umbellatum

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.^[3]

Mount Hood pussypaws
Conservation status
Apparently Secure  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Montiaceae
Genus:	Calyptridium
Species:	C. umbellatum
Binomial name
Calyptridium umbellatum (Torr.) Greene
Synonyms[2]
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

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.^[4] 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.^[5]