‘A very political little wildflower’ in danger of extinction in Southern Nevada
Like many deserts, lack of rainfall in the Mojave has pushed life to the furthest limits of adaptation, saturating the region with rare and unique species found nowhere else in the world. In fact, one-fourth of plant species growing in the Mojave Desert—the smallest of four major deserts in North America—are one of a kind. One of those plants is the white-margined penstemon, a small pink bell-shaped flower fixed on long hardy stems with waved oblong leaves. The highly adapted flower has carved a niche in the Mojave by occupying sandy desert washes, valley floors, and mountain foot-slopes where little else grows. … But the imperiled wildflower faces a number of threats to its survival, including urban sprawl, climate change, energy development, off-road recreation, and invasive grasses.