Gutierrezia elegans, the Lone Mesa snakeweed, is a species of Gutierrezia that was discovered by Peggy Lyon, a Colorado State University botanist, and Al Schneider, an amateur botanist of the Four Corners area, August 4, 2008. They found the plant while they were putting together a list of plant species in Lone Mesa State Park. Peggy said that they would have missed noticing the plant if they were only looking for known rare plants. The Lone Mesa snakeweed is the sixth new plant discovered in Colorado in roughly 15 years.