dagowen's Identifications

Growing in middle of gravel road near walnut orchard. Plant was prostrate, over 8 inches in diameter. Not much in the way of basal leaves, and certainly no red veins or red staining. Three to four nutlets.

We caught the very tail end of the fall super bloom to see one of the last of the Woollystars. Link to confirmed observation nearby yesterday: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193901460 and
Link to better photos of it blooming last December: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/143891605

Giant Woollystar (Eriastrum densifolium) Native or perennial plant in the Phlox (Polemoniaceae) family. Stems are erect or spreading, +- glabrous to woolly. Leaves are glabrous to woolly and tipped with bristles. Corolla is funnel-shaped, blue, lavender, or white. White stamens are equal in length and exserted.

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=24589

Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers https://borregowildflowers.org/?type=album&genus=Eriastrum&specific=densifolium&class=elongatum (Common name: Giant Woolly Star)

Jepson eFlora Key to Eriastrum https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_keys.php?key=8865

Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers https://borregowildflowers.org/?type=search&searchtype=S&family=&name=Eriastrum#/

California Desert Wildflowers, Philip A. Munz, 1975, p. 85.
(only lists Eriastrum eremicum)

Baja California Plant Field Guide, Jon P. Rebman, Norman C. Roberts, 3rd. ed, 2012, pp.342-243.
(Desert Woollystar (only lists Eriastrum eremicum ssp. eremicum)

Flora of North America http://beta.floranorthamerica.org/Main_Page

Southern California Plant Communities: http://www.calflora.net/botanicalnames/plantcommunities.html

Leaf Shape and Arrangement diagrams: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Leaf_morphology.svg

Native American Ethnobotany: A database of plants used as drugs, foods, dyes, fibers, and more by Native People of North America http://naeb.brit.org/

Temalpakh: Cahuilla Indian Knowledge and Usage of Plants, Lowell John Bean and K. Saubel, Malki Museum Press, 1972

Plants For A Future: A resource and information center for edible and otherwise useful plants: https://pfaf.org/User/cmspage.aspx?pageid=305

Plants of Southern California: Regional Floras http://tchester.org/plants/floras/#abdsp (comprehensive website)

Native and Introduced Plants of Southern California by Tom Chester http://tchester.org/plants/index.html

MISC "Eriastrum johnsonii, a new species: https://www.phytoneuron.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/20PhytoN-Eriastrumjohnsonii.pdf" per INat dagowen

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INaturalist Project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/pioneertown-mountains-preserve-inaturalist-notebook

"The 25,500-acre Pioneertown Mountains Preserve descends from the high piney 7,800-foot ridges into the Pioneertown Valley. The small community of Pioneertown is surrounded by conservancy-owned volcanic mesas, the Sawtooth Mountains, and preserve lands leading to the San Bernardino National Forest. The preserve has year-round riparian corridors in Pipes Canyon and Little Morongo Canyons. It is an important landscape linkage between Joshua Tree National Park, San Bernardino National Forest, and the Big Horn Mountains Bureau of Land Management Wilderness.
In 2006, the vast majority of the Joshua trees, pinyon pines and junipers at Pioneertown Mountains Preserve were killed in a 70,000-acre lightning-caused fire of unprecedented magnitude. Today, much of the preserve is going through natural vegetation succession. Some scientists predict that fire succession and climate change will favor scrub oak and Joshua tree plant communities that may replace the pinyon forests. The fire laid bare the region’s rich geological backbone."

Spineflower growing low along open ground in sandy soil in maritime chaparral habitat. It is well camouflaged, and almost invisible unless you are looking for it.

Monterey Spineflower (Chorizanthe pungens pungens) Rare, annual native/endemic plant that grows up to 1.5 dm (6 inches) tall in sandy soil in sand dunes and in maritime chaparral. It is found only in Monterey County. It grows prostrate to ascending and has densely hairy leaves and stems. Inflorescence: involucre lobe margins are white (+- pink). Awns are 1--3 mm, and hooked (uncinate) at terminal end. Peak bloom time: March-June. Calflora lists 2 subspecies.
(Monterey Spineflower is UNLIKE Douglas' Spineflower (Chorizanthe douglasii) that grows 10–40 cm (up to 16 inches) tall and has a triangular involucre with a continuous pink membrane. This pink membrane fills the space between the teeth like an umbrella.) Link to Chorizanthe douglasii observation for comparison: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/117745729

Chorizanthe pungens var. pungens
Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=56501
Chorizanthe pungens
Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=19352

CNPS Rare Plant Inventory: https://rareplants.cnps.org/Plants/Details/473

Endangered Species Fact Sheets (85 species in Monterey County) http://www.elkhornsloughctp.org/factsheet/ and http://www.elkhornsloughctp.org/factsheet/factsheet.php?SPECIES_ID=37

Calflora (with species distribution map in CA) https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=2045

Plants of Monterey County: an Illustrated Field Key, 2nd edition, Matthews and Mitchell, 2015, pp. 254-255.

Flora of Fort Ord: Monterey County, California, David Styer, 2019, p. 173.

Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016, p. 131.

Monterey County Wildflowers https://montereywildflowers.com/polygonaceae-spineflower/

Fort Ord A Love Story, Dorothy E. Denning, 2024 (1,000+ color photos) pp. 109, 220.

5-minute video of Fort Ord Flora and Fauna, produced by David Styer: https://fortordcleanup.com/archives/2020/natural-treasures-of-fort-ord-90-amazing-photographs/

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Jepson eFlora Key to Chorizanthe
https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_keys.php?key=11204
Taxon Page for Chorizanthe: https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=11204

Knotweed Family — Chorizanthe (Spineflower) "Flowers in this family do not have separate petals and sepals. For plants like this, the term “perianth” is used to describe the flower (i.e. the calyx and the corolla together) and “perianth parts” to describe the individual elements. In spineflowers, what you mostly see are the involucres and involucral membranes. The flowers themselves are 6-lobed, usually a similar color to the involucral membranes."
Monterey County Wildflowers– a photographic guide https://montereywildflowers.com/polygonaceae-spineflower/