Meet the ‘Wooly Devil,’ the First New Plant Genus Discovered in a National Park Since 1976

Last spring, Deb Manley was exploring a remote area of Big Bend National Park when she spotted something unusual on the ground. Tiny, fuzzy, flowering plants were sprouting up from between the desert rocks in the Texas park’s northern region. She had never seen anything like them before.

Manley, who volunteers with the park’s botany program, snapped a few photos and uploaded them to the citizen science platform iNaturalist to see if anyone else could identify the mysterious plant. She alerted park staffers, who were also unfamiliar with the hairy white foliage and maroon florets.

So, Manley and a team of researchers embarked on a quest to identify the discovery. After consulting species databases, herbarium records and plant taxonomy publications, they realized they had stumbled upon a species that was previously unknown to scientists.

Researchers describe the new species, which they named Ovicula biradiata, in a new paper published last week in the journal PhytoKeys.

Ovicula biradiata is not only a new species. It’s so distinct from other plants that researchers have classified it as a brand-new genus within the daisy, or Asteraceae, family. 

The find marks the first time a new plant genus has been identified in an American national park in nearly five decades, according to a statement from the California Academy of Sciences, which supported the discovery. The last new plant genus to be discovered in a national park was represented by the July gold shrub (Dedeckera eurekensis), found in Death Valley National Park in 1976.

“Now that the species has been identified and named, there is a tremendous amount we have yet to learn about it,” says Anjna O’Connor, superintendent of Big Bend National Park, in a statement from the National Park Service. “I’m excited to discover whether there are other populations in the park, details of its life cycle, what are the pollinators, and due to the current drought, if it will be observed at all this spring.”

The plant’s Latin name comes from its appearance. “Ovicula” means “tiny sheep,” which is a nod to the desert bighorn sheep that live in the park, as well as the thick, white, fuzzy “wool” covering the plant’s leaves. The second part of the name, “biradiata,” is a reference to the two petals that make up every flower.

And for a slightly easier to remember nickname? Researchers went with “wooly devil”—since the plant’s pair of petals look like horns, and it was found near a hiking area known as Devil’s Den.

The wooly devil is what botanists refer to as a “belly plant,” or a tiny, low-growing plant that can be best seen while lying prone on the ground. It measures less than three inches across and often blends in with the surrounding gravel.

This highly specialized plant only blooms after it rains, which doesn’t happen very often in its harsh, arid habitat.

“Plants that thrive in deserts are often quite unique, having evolved specific mechanisms to withstand the extreme drought-and-deluge conditions of these arid landscapes—from water-storing structures to rapid life cycles triggered by rain,” says study co-author Isaac Lichter Marck, an ecologist with the California Academy of Sciences, in the statement.

Wooly devil grows near drought-tolerant plants, including ocotillo, hedgehog cactus and creosote. But so far, researchers have only found it in three narrow locations in the park’s northern corner. They’re concerned that they’ve just discovered a species that is “already on its way out” as climate change makes deserts hotter and drier, says Lichter Marck in the statement.

Scientists are also curious about the plant’s potential medicinal properties. While looking at it under a microscope, they noticed glands found in other members of the daisy family that are known to have anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory applications.

It’s no surprise that a previously unknown species was found within Big Bend National Park, which spans 801,165 acres within the Chihuahuan Desert and boasts “exceptional biodiversity,” according to the National Park Service’s statement. Big Bend is home to numerous habitats, from high-elevation sky island woodlands to low desert bajadas and riparian ecosystems.

Elsewhere in the park, scientists have previously identified the fossilized remains of a new dinosaur species, Malefica deckerti. They’ve also re-discovered a species of oak tree that was once considered extinct, called Quercus tardifolia.

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Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.