National Park Service Featured Creature U.S. Department of the Interior September 2019 Klamath Network Inventory & Monitoring Division Natural Resources Stewardship & Science California Groundcone strobilacea

Imagine yourself walking on a semi-shaded The part of the groundcone that we see trail in the woods. The sun casts geometric above ground is called an . It shapes of light on the forest floor that shift can be 7 to 18 cm (2–7 in) long, is cone or cyl- and move with the gentle breeze. Smooth, inder-shaped, and is surrounded by bracts or cinnamon red madrone bark and twisting scales that resemble the scales of a cone from burgundy manzanita stems stand out against a fir or pine tree. Purplish-red flowers stick DEBRA AGNEW the soft greens, grays, and browns of Douglas out from between the bracts. The flowers © fir and ponderosa pine. become small round fruits bearing tiny seeds Wilted California groundcone (left and in back- (about 2 mm). Currently, very little is known ground) and its look-alike, a Douglas fir cone The trail takes you down a slope and the about which animals pollinate groundcone (right). canopy opens before you. Suddenly you flowers, eat its parts, or help spread its seeds. notice something odd: a shaggy Douglas fir Habitat and Distribution cone standing straight up beside the trail. California groundcone blooms May through California groundcone grows in open mixed With a closer look you notice there are several July in most of the parks in the Klamath conifer woodlands and chaparral where of these odd things clustered together, and Network. Dried can remain on madrone trees and manzanita shrubs are some of them are purple and covered in flow- the forest floor long after their flowers have present. It often grows beside or on trails. Its ers. Perhaps they aren’t cones after all…? wilted, browning and aging beside their fir range is scattered and extends from central cone twins. and southern Oregon to Baja California California groundcone (; (Mexico). It can grow at sea level to nearly formerly strobilacea, depending Parasitism 1830 m (6000 ft) elevation, depending on lati- on taxonomic scheme) is an odd wildflower Green use chlorophyll to create their tude. Roots of madrones and manzanitas can that spends about nine months underground. own food from sunlight and water through spread far from their main trunks or stems, so When it finally emerges, blooming with regal photosynthesis. California groundcone California groundcone may grow where its purple flowers, it finds itself in a case of mis- doesn’t perform photosynthesis. Instead, host is not apparently present. taken identity, or simply overlooked. it uses haustoria – specialized roots – to attach to and take nutrients from the roots Conservation General Description of Pacific madrone trees ( menziesii) California groundcone is one of only two Groundcones are distantly related to mints and manzanita shrubs ( spp.). species of Kopsiopsis found in the Pacific and are in the same family () Although it is a holoparasite, meaning that Northwest; however, there are no conserva- as the wildflower, Indian paintbrush. Both it is fully dependent on its host for survival, tion concerns for this species at this time. plants are parasitic, meaning they take nutri- there is currently no scientific evidence that it ents from a host plant. is harmful to its hosts. Where to See Groundcone is present in Lassen Volcanic National Park, Redwood National and State Parks, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, and Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve.

More Information https://www.calflora.org/entry/dgrid. html?crn=11786

https://www.inaturalist.org/ taxa/77612-Kopsiopsis-strobilacea DANIEL MOSQUIN/UBC BOTANICAL GARDEN DANIEL MOSQUIN/UBC BOTANICAL GERALD D. CARR © © Klamath Network New inflorescence (purplish, cylindrical, flow- Flowers and bracts on a California groundcone Southern Oregon University ered portion) and haustorium (brown, root-like inflorescence. structure) of a California groundcone. 1250 Siskiyou Blvd Ashland, OR 97520

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