A volunteer at Texas’ Big Bend National Park spotted bright red blooms after rain in a remote stretch of desert, leading to the discovery.

For nearly 50 years, researchers from the U.S. National Park System hadn’t found any new plants—but that changed with the discovery of a fuzzy sunflower. After a chance sighting in 2024, the “wooly devil” (aka Ovicula biradiata) officially became the first new plant species (and genus!