North America has a new plant species to admire — the Lone Mesa snakeweed — thanks to a discovery made by a Colorado State University botanist in southwest Colorado's Lone Mesa State Park.
Peggy Lyon, a botanist with CSU's Colorado Natural Heritage program, and Al Schneider, a volunteer from the Colorado Native Plant Society, were compiling a list of plant species for Lone Mesa State Park when they noticed a small shrub that did not look like anything they had ever seen before.
"This plant would have easily been overlooked if we had only focused on surveying for known rare plants rather than identifying all species in the area," Lyon said.
A specimen of the plant was shipped to the scientific editors of Flora of North America, who confirmed the plant was indeed a new species.
The new species is known only from several populations in and around Lone Mesa State Park in Dolores County, where at least 4,000 snakeweeds have been identified, according to CSU. Lyon will conduct further research in the area this summer.
The plants are low, compact subshrubs that flower in late July through early September.
Lyon and Schneider chose the name Gutierrezia elegans for their discovery. The common name is the Lone Mesa snakeweed.
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com