About Hazardia detonsa (Greene) Greene
Hazardia detonsa, commonly called island bristleweed, is a rare shrub species in the daisy family Asteraceae. It is endemic to the Channel Islands of California, and has been recorded on four islands: Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, West Anacapa, and Middle Anacapa. This species is a bushy shrub that grows between 60 centimeters (24 inches) and 2.5 meters (8 feet 2 inches) tall. Its foliage is thick, made up of serrated, oval leaves that can reach up to 14 centimeters (5.5 inches) long, and the entire above-ground plant is densely covered in woolly hairs and has glandular tissue. Bell-shaped flower heads, each roughly one centimeter long, grow at the tips of the plant's whitish stems. Each flower head has several rows of woolly white phyllaries, and has an open end that exposes disc florets and longer protruding ray florets. All florets are yellow when young, and may turn red or purple as they age. The main threat to this species on Santa Cruz Island was feral Santa Cruz sheep; after these sheep were removed from the island, the plant began to recover there.
