 This rare annual species of wildflower has populations that fluctuates yearly with recorded population ranges from 50,000 plants to as few as 5,000 plants and is considered critically endangered  due to the species narrow range of growing conditions and the fragmented nature of the populations over the limited habitat and by the encroachment of urban development.The species is named in honor of Harry Arnold Dutton (1873–1957), who, in 1949, located a patch of another rare plant "Cupressus abramsiana" on nearby Butano Ridge.All four thornmint species are aromatic annual wildflowers native to the state of California in the US.