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Golden Gate National Recreation Area

San Mateo Woolly Sunflower

San Mateo Woolly Sunflower
Eriophyllum latilobum

Photo © Toni Corelli

Home >> Species >> San Mateo Woolly Sunflower

San Mateo Woolly Sunflower
Eriophyllum latilobum

The San Mateo Woolly Sunflower is in the Aster (Asteraceae) family. The type specimen was collected in San Mateo County in 1903, although it was not fully described as a species until 1915. It grows on sparsely wooded slopes and road embankments associated with live oak woodland. It is a perennial subshrub growing to 5 dm tall, flowering from May to June. The bright yellow showy sunflowers are on long stalks (peduncles), which distinguishes it from a close relative, the golden-yarrow (Eriophyllum confertiflorum) that has its flowers in closely congested flower heads.

The San Mateo Woolly Sunflower is “endemic” to San Mateo County, which means it cannot be found naturally anywhere else in the world. A combination of threats has caused San Mateo Woolly Sunflower Hikethe population sizes to decline in recent years. Some of these threats include scraping along exposed roads adjacent to plant populations, and alteration of habitat due to required work on City sewer lines. Furthermore, the San Mateo Woolly Sunflower grows on steep slopes that are subject to mudslides and erosion.

Historically the San Mateo Woolly Sunflower was known to have four occurrences in San Mateo County. Two of these are probably the result of misidentification and two are still extant populations. One of these populations was recently discovered in 2004 and is a very large population within the San Francisco Peninsula Watershed land, which is within the GGNRA's legislative boundary.

The San Mateo Woolly Sunflower was protected as endangered in 1995 under the Federal Endangered Species Act. Today the species still faces obstacles to recovery, but the discovery of a new large population within protected lands should help to keep this species viable.

Conservation Action Item

The San Mateo Woolly Sunflower's precarious status, along with many of the GGNRA's endangered species, is not widely known. One of the first steps in conservation is education, because it is difficult to protect what you don't know. Spread the word about the San Mateo Woolly Sunflower and the GGNRA's endangered species: tell the Sunflower’s story and convince five people to help.

Trips

Sunday, May 11, 2008, 1:00 p.m.: Join Brent Plater and Tim Sullivan for a hike into the usually inaccessible Crystal Springs to search for the San Mateo woolly sunflower. Park in the small parking lot just east of the junction of Crystal Springs Rd. and Tartan Trail Rd. in Burlingame. Click here for directions. RSVP required: email bplater@ggnrabigyear.org. Note: This trip is subject to final authorization.

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Previous Comments

Posted by: Steve Price | 2008-06-04 16:28:38

This was an easy and beautiful walk along the creek to reach a small population of the San Mateo Woolly Sunflower. The Big Year event on Mother's Day, 2008, was led by Tim Sullivan.