RARE SUNFLOWER REPORTED.

Byline: Kathleen Sweeney Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - The Los Angeles sunflower, thought extinct since the 1930s, has been found along the banks of the Santa Clara River.

A Newhall Land and Farming Company biologist conducting plant surveys earlier this month discovered the flower in an area of riparian habitat on the proposed site of the Newhall Ranch project, south of State Highway 126 and west of the Golden State (5) Freeway.

The company sent the species to the University of California at Berkley to verify it was the plant, and then petitioned the Department of Fish and Game to list the rare flower on its endangered and threatened plants list, a request the state is working on.

``There was one population along the Santa Clara River corridor and it is protected because of riparian habitat,'' said Marlee Lauffer, Newhall Land spokeswoman. ``It's not in the area that will be impacted at all by development.''

Steve Martarano, Department of Fish and Game spokesman, said the flower was last found in 1937, and its habitat ranged through San Bernardino, Orange, Riverside and Los Angeles counties.

The plant, which is smaller than the traditional sunflower, is found in marshy or swampy areas, Martarano said. It is the third plant previously thought extinct to turn up in the area, including the San Fernando spineflower, which was also found on the Newhall Ranch site, and the Ventura marsh milk betch.

Experts believe these plants haven't been found because they are growing on private properties now being developed or surveyed, Martarano said.

Bill Tippets, an environmental program manager for the South Coast Region of Fish and Game, said he hasn't received the petition from Newhall Land, but once it arrives the department will review the information.

A number of other Fish and Game officials will then spend the next year determining whether to add it to the list, Tippets said.

``We are surprised as probably anybody is,'' he said. ``No one has seen it in a very long time. It's a great, unexpected find.''

Newhall Land plans to alert the Los Angeles Board of County Supervisors of the find before it votes on the proposed 22,000-home Newhall Ranch project in January.

The county delayed its vote earlier this year after environmentalists challenged the project and a court found the environmental and water supplies studied to be incomplete.