''Hazardia detonsa'' is a rare species of

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

in the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

known by the common name island bristleweed. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found elsew ...

to the Channel Islands of California, having been found on 4 islands (

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina *Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca *Santa Rosa, La Pampa * Sa ...

, Santa Cruz, West Anacapa, and Middle Anacapa). ''Hazardia detonsa'' is a bushy shrub reaching to in height. It has densely woolly, glandular herbage of thick, serrated, oval-shaped leaves up to long. At the ends of its whitish stems it produces bell-shaped

flower heads A pseudanthium (Greek for "false flower"; ) is an inflorescence that resembles a flower. The word is sometimes used for other structures that are neither a true flower nor a true inflorescence. Examples of pseudanthia include flower heads, compos ...

each about a centimeter long. Each flower head has several rows of white woolly phyllaries and an open end revealing disc florets and longer protruding ray florets. The florets are yellow and may age to red or purple.Flora of North America, ''Hazardia detonsa'' (Greene) Greene, 1887. Island bristleweed
/ref> The main threat to this species on Santa Cruz Island was the presence of feral

Santa Cruz sheep Santa Cruz sheep are an extremely rare breed of domestic sheep that once existed as a feral population on the Santa Cruz Island of the Channel Islands of California. Small and hardy, the sheep were all killed or removed from the island to prevent ...

. The sheep have been removed, allowing the plant to begin its recovery there.

References

External links

Calflora Database: ''Hazardia detonsa'' (Island bristleweed, Northern island haplopappus, Northern islands hazardia)Jepson eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Hazardia detonsa''UC CalPhotos gallery of ''Hazardia detonsa'' images
detonsa Endemic flora of California Natural history of the Channel Islands of California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of Santa Barbara County, California Natural history of Ventura County, California Plants described in 1883 Taxa named by Edward Lee Greene Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Astereae-stub