Eriastrum densifolium subsp. elongatum

Elongate woolly-star

Family: Polemoniaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Elongate woolly-star is a California native perennial found in southern Sierra Nevada, southern Coast Ranges, southwestern California, and western Mojave Desert on floodplains, hillsides, and ridge tops in grassland, scrub, chaparral, and woodland at elevations of 130 to 2,000 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces white to pale blue or lavender-blue flowers with bright blue lobes, creating delicate clusters in terminal and axillary inflorescences. Growing 20 to 50 centimeters tall with generally erect stems that are white-woolly, sometimes becoming less hairy with age, it develops an upright structure with occasional short axillary shoots. Its leaves are 15 to 36 millimeters long, gray-green and densely woolly, with rigid texture and entire margins or up to 9 lateral lobes less than 5 millimeters long. The capsule fruit measures 3.8 to 5 millimeters, containing tan, oblong to angular seeds approximately 1.8 to 2.3 millimeters in size.

Habitat: Floodplains, hillsides, flats, ridge tops, fire breaks, in grassland, scrub, chaparral, woodland

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 130-2000 m

Bioregions: s SN, SCoR, SW, w edge DMoj

California counties: Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Kern, Riverside, Inyo, San Bernardino, San Diego, Tulare, San Luis Obispo, San Benito, Monterey, Fresno

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.