General: Desert Woollystar (Eriastrum eremicum) is a mounded annual forb with asymmetrical, tubular flowers. The flowers are clustered above spiky bracts, have five lobes, and can be white or blue.

Desert Woollystar is a fairly common component of desert vegetation communities during the spring. It can be found in dry, well-drained gravelly soils in washes in the Lower Sonora (Creosote-Bursage Flats) and Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zones.

Family: Phlox (Polemoniaceae)

Other Names:

Plant Form: Mounded annual. Mound dense or loose.

Height: To about 1 ft.

Stems: Stiff, red.

Leaves: Short, lobed, woolly.

Flowers: Blooms during spring. Inflorescence: heads with densely woolly bracts; bracts leaf-like. Corolla tubular, bilateral; blue or yellow-white.

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Habitat: Dry, well-drained gravelly soils on hillsides and in washes.

Elevation: To about 6,000 ft.

Distribution: California to Utah and Arizona

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