General: Woolly Bluestar (Amsonia tomentosa) is an upright, perennial forb with clusters of 5-petaled, white to purple flowers and elongate leaves. There are two forms of this one species: one with bright green hairless leaves and stems, and another with hairy grayish-leaves. The genetics for hair vs. no-hair is thought to be a single gene or simple gene complex much like eye color in humans.

Woolly Bluestar is an uncommon component of desert vegetation communities on dry, well-drained sandy and gravelly sites on desert flats, in and along washes, and on bajadas into the lower mountains in the Lower Sonoran (Creosote-Bursage Flats) and Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland) life zones.

Family: Dogbane (Apocynaceae).

Other Names: Amsonia brevifolia, Dogbane

Plant Form: Several from woody taproot.

Height: About 6- to 14-inches tall.

Stems:

Leaves: Blade to 1-1/2 inches long, oblong; petiole short. Hairy or hairless

Flowers: Blooms late spring and early summer. Inflorescence: several flowers standing out from a central point. Flowers: tubular (about 3/4-inch long), white, radially symmetrical, 5 petals.

Seeds:

Habitat: Dry, well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils on flats, in and along washes, on bajadas, and on moderate slopes in the lower mountains.

Elevation: About 1,000 to 6,000 feet.

Distribution: California, Nevada, and Utah.

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