Rare and Endangered

Inventory of Rare and Endangered Vascular Plants of California SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 1 California Native Plant Society ,. - I I I INVENTORY OF RARE AND ENDANGERED VASCULAR PLANTS OF CALIFORNIA I I I Edited and with text by I W. RoQe rt Powel l I I I I I Special Publication No. 1 California Native Plant Society I I I I I I This report was prepared by the California Native Plant Society in cooperation with the State Office of Planning and Resea rch, Office of the Governor, with pa rtial funding through a I grant made by the State Resources Agency from the Environmental Protection Fund ( generated by personalized license plates ) , I The preparation of this document was financed in part through I a Com p rehensiv e Planning Grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, under the provisions of Section 701 of the Hou sing Act of 1968, as amended. I I I I I I I CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY 2380 ELLSWORTH STREET, SUITED BERKELEY. CALIFORNIA 94704 Copyright 1974 i I I CORRECTIONS, DELETIONS, AND ADDITIONS TO THE INVENTORY I Send information to: w. Robert Powell CNPS Rare Plant Project I Agronomy and Range Science Univer sity of California I Davis, CA 95616 For adding new plants or changing from Appendix to the main I list we need as complete documentation as possible. 1. For plants not in standard manuals, send a reprint (or copy) of source of new plants or change in I plant nomenclature. 2. For each location we need a 3" x 5" card giving the full plant name and location description or a fac I simile of or duplicate label with appropriate notes on the back about correctness of printed name. We I have cards of some plants listed in the appendix. 3. Give the R-E-V-D codes for the plant (statew ide unless specifically stated otherwise) . I I I TO USE MAPS AUD CARD FILES Write for appoint�nt to: Mary Major I CNPS Rare Plant Project 623 E Street I Davis, CA 95616 Facilities for copying maps are minimal in Davis. Best procedure is to bring your own maps upon which to transfer I information. I I I ii I I I TABLE OF CO!ITEHTS I Foreword ••• • 1 The CNPS Rare Plant Project . • • 2 I Basis for Inclusion of Plants • • • 3 I Definitions and Concepts. • • • • 3 Rarity-Endangered Codes. /� I About the Plant Lists • 6 Rare Plant Mapping. • • 7 I Updating the Information. 8 I Use of Haps and Card File • • 9 Acknowledgr.ients • 9 I County and Is land Code lh.unbers•• .11 Very Rare and Rare and Endangered Plants (list) •••12 I Appendices I I. Rare and not endangered plants (including sane of uncertain status ) •• .33 I II• Plants not rare but roostly of li�it�<l distribution .41 III. U.S,r,.S. topographic Map quadrangles. ••43 I IV. Families and genera of rare plants •• • • • 55 I I I I iii L. 1 I I FOREHORD I The publication of this inventory of rare an<l endangered species of vascular plants of California I represents a major step in the Society's effort s to I preserve the native flora. This cor.!pendium of approximately seven hundred ta;rn is the result of I years of volunteer efforts by er.JP� members. including professional botanis ts nnd native plant enthu- I siast s. I congratulate then on a job Hell done. I Through their efforts and l�no-wledge we now have an aut horitative.base for land use decisions. I He consider these results to be of such impor- tance that this re port has beer.. des ignatcd as I Special Publication Ho. 1 of the California llativc Plant Society. I I I John Sawyer President I I I I I 2 I I INVENTORY OF RARE AND ENDANGERED VASCULAR PLANTS OF CALIFORNIA I !.!:!!;_ CNPS Rare Plant Project This publication summarizes almost seven years of effort by the Rare I Plant Project of the California Native Plant Society to pinpoint locations I of California's rare plants. The purpose of the undertaking is to develop sufficient information so that action may be taken to pr otect those rare I plants that are endangered, and so that the status of other rare plants can be monitored. The Society believes this to be the first such compre I hensive program of its kind in the United States. I A preliminary list of rare plants indicating the county or counties where each plant is found was issued in July of 1971 and fairly widely distributed I to botanists and others around the state. The purpose was to refine informa tion that had previously been developed and to solicit additional data. The I end result of this process is the present comprehensive Inventory. I Plants are listed in alphabetical order by scientific name. Families and their genera are listed in Appendix IV. Each plant is assigned a code of I 4 to 6 characters that is used to identify the plant on maps. These codes are also used for computer handling of certain aspects of the data. Information I for each plant includes: vernacular name; flowering period; degree of rarity, I endangerment, vigor, and general distribution; counties where found; and index numbers of the U. s. Geological Survey topographical quadrangle map (or I maps) showing the locations where that plant has been collected or observed. The eight California Chatulel Islands are treated as areas separate from the I counties to which they belong. I I I I 3 I Basis For Inclusion of Plants To be included, a plant must be native to California and rare in I California. However, it need not be restricted to California. Taxonomic I ranks of species, subspecies, and variety are included, but forma and hybrids are excluded. The scientific names (with very few exceptions) are I validly published. The exceptions are in process of publication. Authori ties for scientific names are A California Flora, by Munz (1959), and Su pple I � ,!.2 A California Flora, by Munz (1968), as well as recent taxonomic li tera I ture. I De finitions and Concepts Plant is used throughout to indicate collectively all the individuals I referable to a given plant name. The information for each plant applies to I all of that plant as it occurs in California. Because most people are put off by, or are afraid of, scientific names, I English names are provided for toost entries. It is a misnomer to say these are common names, because rare plants ( by nature) are not coil'l!lon. Vernacular I name is used as a compromise term. Since relatively few rare plants have I common names, most vernacular names are contrived. A large portion of the vernacular names used were found in Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States, I by Abrams (1923-1960), but most of those were themselves contrived. Where no name existed the Rare Plant Proje ct staff invente d one. I An endangered plant is one threatened with extinction and is not likely I to survive if causal factors now at work continue operating. A � plant is one that exists in only one or a very few restricted I loc alities, oc curs in such small numbers that it is seldom seen or collected regardless of its total range, or exists only on a type of habitat that could I disappear or change for any reason. _I 4 I A plant is presumed extinct if it cannot be found after diligent search I of former known or likely sites of occurrence. Some plants may be extinct in the wild but survive under cultivation. I When a plant is locally eliminated or exterminated, it is said to be extirpated for the locality. Technically, a plant is extinct only if it no I longer exists anywhere on earth (in the wild). To be meaningful in the con- I text of this project, extirpation is used only with regard to plants that are rare at least in California. For example, Amsinckia grandiflora is extir I pated in San Joaquin and Contra Costa Counties but is still extant at one site in Alameda County. Empetrum hermaphroditum is presumed extirpated in I California, but is corrmon further north. I Rarity-Endangerment Codes. Most schemes for scoring the status of rare plants employ various of the following categories, listed here as they ar e I usu ally assumed to be, in order from 100st to least critical concern: presumed extinct, endangered, threatened, ra re, depleted, and undetermined. "Vulnerable, " I a recently added term, fits somewhere near threatened and rare. I As a result of many difficulties encountered earlier when a similar scheme was used, the CNPS Rare Plant Project developed a completely different approach. I The ideas contained in the list of categories above are divided into three major coordinate components or concepts. First, rareness or rarity is the I amount of the plant both in terms of numbers and also in tenns of manner and I extent of distribution. Second, endangerment embodies the concept of a plant being threatened with extinction or extirpation for whatever reason. Third, for I want of a better term, is vigor. The concept involved is the dynamics of the plant in terms of numbers of individuals or populations. I For use within a specific region, a fourth concept is needed: general I distribution. With regional boundaries defined (in this case the state of I I ,. I 5 I California), a plant is endemic if restricted to that region.

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