What is 'Wooly Devil'? The new plant species discovered at a U.S. national park for the first time in nearly 50 years

There’s a new devil in town and currently, it’s in Texas!
As the National Park Service announced Monday, a new plant species has been discovered at Big Bend National Park in Texas. The tiny, fuzzy-looking plants with yellow flowers growing among desert rocks in a remote area on the northern end of the park were not anything like they had seen before. After searching plant databases, consulting experts and even asking for answers online, park officials said they began to realize that they had found something special.

According to the park service, this new plant was first spotted by botany volunteer Deb Manley and a park ranger in March 2024. It was tiny, measuring only a few centimeters in length, with striking red petals and green leaves covered in what appeared to be thick white wool.
Deb Manley, the volunteer, snapped pictures of the plant and uploaded them to the app iNaturalists, where botanists from around the globe chimed in to help identify the mysterious plant. But with no immediate answers, she and the ranger consulted herbarium records, plant publications, and local experts. Still, the plant's identity eluded them and raised questions.

More than a year later, scientists have confirmed that what they came across in the arid Chihuahuan Desert was an entirely new plant species – the first such discovery to take place within a U.S. National Park in nearly half a century.
According to the California Academy of Sciences, which joined Big Bend National Park staff and Sul Ross State University to study the Wooly Devil (or Ovicula biradiata), it's the first time a new species of plant has been found at a U.S. national park in nearly 50 years.
Its name is inspired by its appearance. Ovicula means tiny sheep, a reference to the white ‘wool’ that covers the small plant's leaves. Biradiata is a reference to the strap-shaped petals in each flower.
The plant ranges in size from less than one centimeter to 3 to 7 centimeters across, researchers said. The Wooly Devil is what botanists refer to as a "belly plant," small plants that can only be property seen while laying on the ground. As suggested by its location – among desert rocks in a remote area in the northern reaches of the park – the plant can survive in rocky, drought-stricken environments.

According to researchers, who published their findings in peer-reviewed botanical journal PhytoKeys, the Wooly Devil is in the daisy family and it is closely related to paperflowers and bitterweed, both of which have yellow flowers. However, DNA analysis showed that the plant is so genetically distinct that it had to be considered a new genus.
The Wooly Devil is much smaller than its sister plants, according to the researchers, ranging from less than 1 centimeter to 3-7 centimeters across. It was given the formal name Ovicula, meaning tiny sheep, and biradiata, a reference to the two ray-like petals in each flower.
Big Bend National Park Superintendent Anjna O'Connor said in the news release, “Now that the species has been identified and named, there is a tremendous amount we have yet to learn about it."
Big Bend, in southwest Texas, is massive, covering more than 800,000 acres and part of the Chihuahuan Desert, which is considered the most diverse desert ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere.

A newly published study in the botanical journal PhytoKeys said the Ovicula biradiata, or the ‘Wooly Devil’ as botanists have come to call it, is not only a new species but an entirely new genus within the daisy and sunflower family. Isaac Lichter Marck, one of the authors of the study, told the California Academy of Sciences, which was involved in the research, "O. biradiata is a member of the sunflower family, although it does not resemble its sunburst-shaped relatives at first glance." The taxonomist added that plants thriving in the desert are quite unique because they have evolved to withstand extreme weather conditions — but climate change still poses a threat to their existence. As per him, "We have only observed this plant in three narrow locations across the northernmost corner of the park, and it's possible that we've documented a species that is already on its way out." He also mentioned, "After sequencing its DNA and comparing it with other specimens in the Academy’s herbarium, we discovered that this small, fuzzy plant is not only a new species within the sunflower group, but it is also distinct enough from its closest relatives to warrant an entirely new genus.”
According to Big Bend National Park Superintendent Anjna O’Connor, “Now that the species has been identified and named, there is a tremendous amount we have yet to learn about it. 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.”