''Eriastrum densifolium'' is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name giant woollystar. This wildflower is native to California and Baja California where it grows in open areas such as sand dunes and dry washes. It grows on an erect stem with slightly hairy to densely woolly foliage, often giving the plant a dark gray-green color. The leaves are narrow and spike-shaped with pointed lobes. The top of each stem is occupied by a bunched inflorescence full of woolly leaflike

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s and funnel-shaped, flat-faced flowers. The flowers are each 1 to 3 centimeters long with a face up to three or four centimeters wide. The lobes are white to bright, striking blue, sometimes with longitudinal pinstripes. The

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s protrude from the throat. There are two subspecies of this plant. The rarer, ssp. ''sanctorum'' (Santa Ana River woollystar), is endemic to the

Santa Ana River The Santa Ana River is the largest river entirely within Southern California in the United States. It rises in the San Bernardino Mountains and flows for most of its length through San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, before cutting through ...

drainage in San Bernardino County, California. It was federally listed as an

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

in 1987.USFWS
Final listing for ''Eriastrum densifolium'' ssp. ''sanctorum'' and ''Dodecahema leptoceras''.
''Federal Register'' September 28, 1987. A resident of higher floodplain habitat types, the plant was expected to suffer from the construction of the

Seven Oaks Dam Seven Oaks Dam is a high earth and rock fill embankment dam across the Santa Ana River in the San Bernardino Mountains, about northeast of Redlands in San Bernardino County, southern California. It impounds Seven Oaks Reservoir in the San Berna ...

, which would alter the hydrology of the

waterways it depends on.ssp. ''sanctorum''
Center for Plant Conservation.

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentThe Nature ConservancyPhoto galleryPhoto gallery: ssp. ''sanctorum''
densifolium Flora of California Flora of Baja California Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of the Channel Islands of California Natural history of the Mojave Desert Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of the Transverse Ranges {{Polemoniaceae-stub