AZGF 2005, Kearney and Peebles 1969, McDougall 1973

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Herbaceous perennials, 10-18 cm tall, pseudoscapes (subterranian stems) absent, leaves and peduncles arising from taproot summit, herbage glabrous. Leaves: Arising directly from the taproot summit, pinnately 3-5 foliate, with broad and rounded lobes, peduncles as long as or longer than the leaves. Flowers: Small, white to yellow, in dense umbles with rays fused to form disc-shaped clusters, flowers with 5 inflexed petals, involucres absent, calyxes inconspicous, stamens 5, inserted on an epiginous disk, ovaries 2, inferior, with 2 mericarps united by their inner faces (commissure), flowering heads with green, foliaceous bracts subtending masses of fragrant flowers (invloucel bractlets most closely subtending flowers obscure, pelaceous and scarious), flowering heads borne on stems protruding above leaves. Fruits: Capsules of 2 mericarps, small, broadly elliptic and somewhat dorsally compressed, to 8 mm long, with winged or filiform dorsal or intermediate ribs, these with 1-24 small oil tubes in intervals and commisure. Each mericarp with 1 seed. Seed faces slightl Ecology: Found on sandy or gravelly soils among shale or limestone, in Arizona in the northern counties, including Coconino, Apache, Navajo, and Yavapai (near Montezuma Castle), among desert scrub or grassland communities, from 4,500-7,000 ft (1372-2134 m); flower Distribution: Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico. Notes: This plant has been reviewed for threatened or endangered status by the Arizona Game and Fish department, but is currently not yet listed as such. Some sources cite this species as occuring only in Arizona (Kearney and Peebles), while others cite more known localities (McDougall). This genus is distinguished from pseudocymopterus by the acaulescent habit and the glabrous herbage and peduncles of cymopterus; pseudocymopterus are usually caulescent and generally have peduncles with a long-haired pubescence, (at least at the base of the umbles). The white to yellow flowers and fused rays of the umbles anong with the pelaceous, scarious bractlets help to identify this species. Ethnobotany: Specific uses for this species are unknown, but other species in the genus have uses; the roots used as food. Synonyms: None Editor: LCrumbacher2012 Etymology: Cymopterus comes from the Greek kuma, "wave," and pteron, "wing," some species having wavy wings, while megacephalus means big-headed.