''Erigeron maguirei'' is a species of flowering plant 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 names Maguire daisy and Maguire's fleabane. 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 ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

in the United States. It is a perennial herb growing up to tall. It grows from a

taproot A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproo ...

and a branching

caudex A caudex (plural: caudices) of a plant is a stem, but the term is also used to mean a rootstock and particularly a basal stem structure from which new growth arises.pages 456 and 695 In the strict sense of the term, meaning a stem, "caudex" is m ...

. The stems are densely hairy. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

holds one to five

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 with several hairy, glandular

phyllaries In botanical terminology, a phyllary, also known an involucral bract or tegule, is a single bract of the involucre of a composite flower. The involucre is the grouping of bracts together. Phyllaries are reduced leaf-like structures that form one or ...

. The head has up to 20 white, pink-tinged, or pink ray florets 0.6 to 0.8 centimeters long, and many yellow disc florets at the center.''Erigeron maguirei''.
Flora of North America. Retrieved 10-21-2011. This plant can be found in the

San Rafael Swell The San Rafael Swell is a large geologic feature located in south-central Utah, United States about west of Green River. The San Rafael Swell, measuring approximately , consists of a giant dome-shaped anticline of sandstone, shale, and limeston ...

and

Capitol Reef National Park Capitol Reef National Park is an American national park in south-central Utah. The park is approximately long on its northsouth axis and just wide on average. The park was established in 1971 to preserve of desert landscape and is open all ye ...

in Utah. It grows in cracks and crevices in the

Navajo Sandstone The Navajo Sandstone is a geological formation in the Glen Canyon Group that is spread across the U.S. states of southern Nevada, northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, and Utah as part of the Colorado Plateau province of the United States.Anonymou ...

canyon A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by ...

s, and washes. It springs up in cool, shady areas where enough organic material accumulates in cracks that it can take hold. The habitat is shrubland and pine and juniper woodland.''Erigeron maguirei''.
The Nature Conservancy. Retrieved 10-21-2011. This species was previously divided into two

varieties Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

. The rare var. ''maguirei'' 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 1985 because there were only five to seven individual plants known, all growing in an area with active

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

mining claims.USFWS
Determination of endangered status for ''Erigeron maguirei'' var. ''maguirei'' (Magurie Daisy).
''Federal Register'' (September 5, 1985). Retrieved 10-21-2011. By 1996, studies indicated that the differences between the two varieties were not controlled by the genes of the plants, so that the division of the species into varieties was not warranted. The two varieties were combined, so both would be considered together under the

Endangered Species Act The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA or "The Act"; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of ec ...

as one species. This automatically made the endangered taxon more abundant than before, and it was downlisted to threatened status.USFWS
Reclassification of ''Erigeron maguirei'' (Maguire daisy) from endangered to threatened.
''Federal Register'' (June 19, 1996). Retrieved 10-21-2011. Recent counts suggest there are ten populations containing over 160,000 individuals. The

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

's target for recovery was set at around 10,000 individuals, so the Service considers the plant to have recovered. In 2011 it was removed from the Endangered Species List.USFWS
Removal of ''Erigeron maguirei'' (Maguire Daisy) from the federal list of endangered and threatened plants; Availability of final post-delisting monitoring plan.
''Federal Register'' (January 19, 2011). Retrieved 10-21-2011. About 85% of the plant's range is on federal land, giving it some protection. Uranium mining takes place nearby, but not in areas where the plant naturally occurs.

References

External links

USDA Plants ProfileCenter for Plant Conservation
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3056526 maguirei Flora of Utah Plants described in 1947 Taxa named by Arthur Cronquist