It’s a rare plant, so rare that it hasn’t been seen for decades. It only lives in a tiny area of the Central Coast, smaller than a high school gym. And, it’s not easy to find, because it’s smaller than a penny. But, researchers have rediscovered it.
"The plant that was rediscovered is commonly called the Santa Ynez groundstar," said Dr. Matt Guilliams, who is a botanist and curator with the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. "It's not taller than a centimeter in height, and is limited to only one little spot on earth as far as we know."
The plant was first spotted nearly 100 years ago, but was misidentified at the time.
Guilliams says it was rediscovered a second time in the 1990's, but once again researchers didn’t know exactly what they had found. Finally, a researcher realized it was a unique species.
He says that recently, researchers at the Botanic Garden, and the California Native Plant Society were thinking about the mysterious plant, and it led to a mini-expedition to try to re-discover it.
Guilliams says spotting the plant isn’t as easy as you might think. They had to search on their hands and knees, because you can't see it while standing. But they had some ideas as to where to look, and found it on Vandenberg Space Force Base. They went in April, when they thought the plants might be blooming. He says they think they only have a lifespan of a few weeks.
The researcher says they found a lot of the plants, but their habitat is actually a tiny area, about the size of a baseball field's infield.
There is a twist in the fact that while the plant is called the Santa Ynez groundstar, it’s not found in the Santa Ynez Valley, it’s found on the base.
The researchers are now hoping to learn more about the rare plant. Specimens have been taken to four research institutions. And, the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden has taken seeds for its seed bank, to try to insure if something happens to the wild population, they won’t go extinct.
