How Big Bend National Park Workers Discovered an Impish New Plant Species

As the saying goes, the devil is in the details. Last year, Big Bend National Park volunteer Debra Manley and park interpretive operations supervisor Cathy Hoyt were on a hike in a northern area of the preserve when something caught Manley’s eye: tiny clusters of leaves covered with fine, white hairs, barely discernible against the desert gravel. Few of the specimens were larger than a quarter, and the only things distinguishing the plants from the myriad of other fuzzy locals were the strange and delicate flowers studding their centers. Had Manley arrived a few days earlier or later, they might not have been visible at all. It might seem like a minor miracle that anyone noticed them, if you didn’t know about the science arm of…

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