Lone Mesa snakeweed facts for kids

The Gutierrezia elegans, also known as the Lone Mesa snakeweed, is a special type of plant. It belongs to the Gutierrezia family. This plant is endemic to the United States, which means it is found only in this country and nowhere else in the world.

Discovering the Lone Mesa Snakeweed

The Lone Mesa snakeweed was first found on August 4, 2008. It was discovered by Peggy Lyon and Al Schneider. Peggy is a botanist from Colorado State University. A botanist is a scientist who studies plants. Al Schneider is an amateur botanist. This means he studies plants as a hobby.

They found the plant while exploring Lone Mesa State Park in Colorado. They were making a list of all the different plant types in the park. Peggy said they might have missed this plant if they were only looking for plants they already knew were rare.

After finding the plant, they sent a small piece of it, called a specimen, to Guy Nesom. He is a well-known plant expert. Guy and other scientists carefully studied the plant. They all agreed it was a brand new species of Gutierrezia that no one had ever seen before!

Tim Hogan, who works at the University of Colorado Herbarium, said this discovery is important. It shows us that there is still so much we don't know about biodiversity. Biodiversity means all the different kinds of life on Earth. The Lone Mesa snakeweed was the sixth new plant found in Colorado in about 15 years.