Loch Lomond Eryngo

Description

This is a hairy, somewhat fleshy, perennial herb growing branching stems to 20 or 30 centimeters in height. Dark green, narrowly spade-shaped leaves grow on long petioles and may grow erect with the stems or lie flat along the ground. They may have smooth to toothed to sharply serrated edges. Flower heads are less than a centimeter wide with a few longer, straight, sharp bracts around the base. The tiny flowers packed into the rounded head are generally white. This plant is threatened by destruction of its fragile vernal pool habitat by a number of causes, including sediment-rich runoff into the pools from logging activity, erosion, development, and off-road vehicles.