Plant Name
Scientific Name: Eriastrum diffusum
Common Names: Miniature Woollystar, Miniature Woolstar, Miniature Wool Star
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Annual
Growth Habit: Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert, Upland. This small wildflower grows in dry, sunny, open areas, usually in bare patches of sandy dirt and gravel.
Flower Color: Pale blue to lavender, White
Flowering Season: Spring
Height: To only 8 inches (20 cm) tall, but usually much less
Description: The flowers are clustered in woolly, spiky flower heads. The individual flowers are tubular, up to 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) long, and have 5 lobes, a white to yellow throat, and exserted stamens that are shorter than the length of the flower lobes. The leaves are dark green, shiny, and narrowly linear with sharply pointed tips and wool in the leaf axils.
The similar Desert Woollystar (Eriastrum eremicum) has much longer stamens with an exserted length equal to that of the flower lobes.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Solanales
Family: Polemoniaceae – Phlox family
Genus: Eriastrum Woot. & Standl. – woollystar
Species: Eriastrum diffusum (A. Gray) H. Mason – miniature woollystar
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