''Eriastrum hooveri'' is a rare species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name Hoover's woollystar. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the South Coast Ranges of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

from San Benito to Los Angeles Counties, where it grows in grassy open habitat. It is an annual herb producing a wiry, usually woolly stem up to about 15 centimeters tall. The leaves are linear and threadlike, less than three centimeters long, and sometimes divided into two thready lobes. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

is a woolly cluster of narrow, leaflike

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also lo ...

s laced with webby fibers. The flowers are white and just a few millimeters in length. This plant was considered to be in serious jeopardy in the 1980s when many of its populations, most of which occurred on private and unprotected land, were in immediate danger of being destroyed by one or more threats, including conversion of the land for agricultural use, petroleum drilling, development for housing, grazing,

agricultural pollution Agricultural pollution refers to biotic and abiotic byproducts of farming practices that result in contamination or degradation of the environment and surrounding ecosystems, and/or cause injury to humans and their economic interests. The po ...

invasive plant An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native speci ...

s, flooding, and fire suppression.EPA: Federal Register. (2003)
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Removing ''Eriastrum hooveri'' (Hoover's woolly-star) from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Species
/ref>
/ref> The plant was federally listed as a threatened species in 1990. After the listing, further studies revealed many more populations, including several in counties where it was not previously known. The species may have been sparse during the 1980s surveys due to drought conditions. The plant was also found to be more adaptable and resilient to destruction than previously thought. Several companies that own land where the plant occurs, such as that in the

Lost Hills Oil Field The Lost Hills Oil Field is a large oil field in the Lost Hills Range, north of the town of Lost Hills, California, Lost Hills in western Kern County, California, Kern County, California, in the United States. Production While only the 18th-large ...

, have put protection measures in place. Based on these events, which demonstrated the plant was not as threatened as was feared, it was delisted in 2003. It is still designated a sensitive species by the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
hooveri Flora of California Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Polemoniaceae-stub