Eriastrum diffusum

Spreading woolly-star

Family: Polemoniaceae · Type: annual · Native

Spreading woolly-star is a California native annual found in the southern eastern desert and desert bioregions in open sandy areas at elevations below 2,000 meters. Flowering from March to June, this delicate plant produces white to blue flowers with yellow throats, often featuring reddish dots or stripes at the base, in small terminal clusters of 3 to 20 blossoms. Growing with thin, wiry erect or spreading stems 1 to 25 centimeters tall, it has a diffusely branched habit that can vary from densely woolly to nearly smooth. Its leaves are relatively small, ranging 4 to 26 millimeters long, with few lateral lobes measuring 1 to 7.5 millimeters. The fruit is a small tan capsule approximately 2.7 to 4 millimeters long, containing angular seeds.

Habitat: Open areas, sandy soil

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 2000 m.

Bioregions: SNE, D

California counties: San Bernardino, San Diego, Inyo, Mono, Riverside, Kern, Imperial, San Luis Obispo

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