''Eriastrum pluriflorum'' is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names Tehachapi woollystar and many-flowered eriastrum.

Distribution

This wildflower is endemic to California where it is an uncommon resident of varied

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

and woodland habitats in the central part of the state from the Inner South California Coast Ranges and northwestern Transverse Ranges, across the San Joaquin Valley to the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

and Tehachapi Mountains, and into the western Mojave Desert.

Description

This is a small annual plant, ''Eriastrum pluriflorum'', which may be anywhere from 2 to 25 centimeters in height, forming an erect bunch or a small patch on the ground. Its stem has the occasional narrow, thready leaf a few centimeters in length and coated in woolly hairs. The inflorescence is a mass of spindly

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 strung thickly with dense, cobwebby wool and bearing many distinctive trumpet-shaped flowers. Each flower has a very narrow throat tube one to two centimeters long ending in a flat faced corolla. The centimeter-wide corolla has five rounded to diamond-shaped lobes which are bright lavender to blue. The throat of the flower may be the same color or yellowish to reddish. The light-colored

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 corolla.

Subspecies

Subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

include: *''Eriastrum pluriflorum'' ssp. ''pluriflorum'' *''Eriastrum pluriflorum'' ssp. ''sherman-hoytiae'' — Many flowered eriastrum — endemic to the Mojave Desert.Calflora: ''Eriastrum pluriflorum'' ssp. ''sherman-hoytiae''
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References

External links

Calflora Database: ''Eriastrum pluriflorum'' (Tehachapi woollystar, many flowered eriastrum)Jepson Manual Treatment: ''Eriastrum pluriflorum''''Eriastrum pluriflorum'' - U.C. Photo gallery
pluriflorum Endemic flora of 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 Central Valley (California) Natural history of the Mojave Desert Natural history of the Transverse Ranges ~ Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Polemoniaceae-stub