Centaurea solstitialis or “Yellow Starthistle” came from Eurasia to California around 150 years ago. While it is also found in many other states, in California it has become a particularly aggressive invader occupying millions of acres, creating problems for grazing animals and suppressing native species. Each individual plant can produce tens of thousands of seeds and one of the ways of preventing its spread is by pulling plants before they can set seed. Misael (below) said in the first few years it took a crew of 6 people many days to pull all the Starthistle and this year he alone could only find a few individuals. A testament to the annual dedicated efforts of preserving local biological diversity.
