In July, New Mexico bought a desert oasis in Santa Rosa to protect this sunflower's habitat. Unlike the sunflowers in our Santa Fe back yard, the helianthus paradoxus has narrower leaves, fewer hairs on the stems and leaves, smaller flower heads, and is later flowering.
It survives in less than two dozen locations in two states, NM and Texas. Surveys have discovered the flower in Pecos and Reeves in Texas, and in Chaves, Cibola, Guadalupe, Socorro and Valencia counties in New Mexico. Valencia is a stone's throw from SF.
There's a recovery plan but it's still on the Endangered Species List.
Go to http:/ifw2es.fws.gov/NewMexico/.
