Eriastrum diffusum

Eriastrum diffusum is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name miniature woollystar. It is native to the southwestern United States from California to Texas, where it grows in many types of open habitat. This is an annual herb producing a thin, usually woolly stem up to about 20 centimeters long, growing erect or spreading outward. The leaves are divided into 2 to 4 narrow, threadlike linear lobes. The inflorescence is a woolly cluster of narrow, leaflike bracts laced with webby fibers. The small flowers are funnel-shaped, with yellowish throats and white to pale blue corollas.

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In 1870 Asa Gray described a variety of Gilia filifolia he named diffusa. It was described as a species twice before Herbert Louis Mason moved it to the genus Eriastrum creating the accepted species name. Together with its genus it is classified in the Polemoniaceae family. It has three subspecies. Eriastrum diffusum subsp. coachellae – Native to California Eriastrum diffusum subsp. diffusum – Widespread in the southwestern US and northern Mexico Eriastrum diffusum subsp. utahense – Native to Utah Eriastrum diffusum has 9 synonyms of the species or one of its three subspecies.