A new species of flax has been discovered by botanists with the New Mexico State Forestry Division and the federal Bureau of Land Management.
The new species was found in the gypsum soils of the Yeso Hills near the New Mexico-Texas border south of Carlsbad.
The species is named Allred’s Flax, after recently retired botanist Kelly Allred from the New Mexico State University Animal and Range Science Department.
One of the discoverers, State Forestry Botanist Bob Sivinski, says the new species is just the most recent example of how much there is to learn about native plants in New Mexico.
Distinguished by its orange flowers with yellow centers, Allred’s Flax grows abundantly as a short bush on gypsum-rich soils in the northern Chihuahuan Desert of New Mexico and adjacent Texas.
-- Email the reporter at jmcelroy@abqjournal.com. Call the reporter at 505-823-3823
