Inventory of Rare and Endangered Vascular Plants of California California Native Plant Society INVENTORY OF RARE AND ENDANGERED VASCULAR PLANTS OF CALIFORNIA Edited and with text by W, Robert Powell s Special Publication No . 1 California Native Plant Society This report was prepared by the California Native Plant Society in cooperation with the State Office of Planning and Research, Office of the Governor, with partial funding through a grant made by the State Resources Agency from the Environmental Protection Fund (generated by personalized license plates) . The preparation of this docum nt was financed in part through a Comprehensive Planning Grant fro the Department of Housing and Urban Development, under the provisions of Section 701 of the Housing Act of 1968, as amended . CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY 2380 ELLSWORTH STREET, SUITE D BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 94704 Copyright', 1974 CORRECTIONS, DELETIONS, AND ADDITIONS TO THE INVENTORY Send information to : W. Robert Powell CNPS Rare Plant Project Agronomy and Range Science University of California Davis, CA 95616 For adding new plants or changing from Appendix to the main 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 plant nomenclature . 2 . For each location we need a 3" x 5" card giving the full plant name and location description or a fac- simile of or duplicate label with appropriate notes on the back about correctness of printed name . We have cards of some plants listed in the appendix . 3 . Give the R-E-V-D codes for the plant (statewide unless specifically stated otherwise) . TO USE MAPS AND CARD FILES Write for appointment to : Mary Major CNPS Rare Plant Project 623 E Street Davis, CA 95616 Facilities for copying maps are minimal in Davis . Best procedure is to bring your own maps upon which to transfer information . ii TABLr OF CONTENTS Foreword 1 The CLAPS Rare Plant Project 2 Basis for Inclusion of Plants 3 Definitions and Concepts 3 Rarity-Endangered Codes 4 About the Plant Lists I 6 Rare Plant Mapping 7 Updating the Information 8 Use of Maps and Card File 9 Acknowledgments 9 County and Island Code Numbers 11 Very Rare and Rare and Endangered Plants (list) 12 Appendices I . Rare and not endangered plants (including some of uncertain status) 33 II . Plants not rare but mostiy of limited distribution .41 III . U .S .C .S . topographic map quadrangles 43 IV . Families and genera of rare plants 55 111 1 FORE% 10RD The publication of this inventory of rare and endangered species of vascular plants of California represents a major step in the Society's efforts to preserve the native flora . This compendium of approximately seven hundred taxa is the result of years of volunteer efforts by CNPS members, includ- ing professional botanists and native plant enthu- siasts . I congratulate then on a job well done . Through their efforts and knowledge we now have an authoritative base for land use decisions . Ile consider these results to be of such impor- tance that this report has been designated as Special Publication No . 1 of the California Native Plant Society . '*. -40NAD 40, C John Sawyer President 2 INVENTORY OF RARE AND ENDANGERED VASCULAR PLANTS OF CALIFORNIA The CNPS Rare Pant Project This publication summarizes almost seven years of effort by the Rare Plant Project of the California Native Plant Society to pinpoint locations of California's rare plants . The purpose of the undertaking is to develop sufficient information so that action may be taken to protect those rare 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- hensive program of its kind in the United States . 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 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 end result of this process is the present comprehensive Inventory . Plants are listed in alphabetical order by scientific name . Families and their genera are listed in Appendix TV . Each plant is assigned a code of 4 to 6 characters that is used to identify the plant on maps . These codes are also used for computer handling of certaLn aspects of the data . Information for east plant includes : vernacular name ; flowering period ; degree of rarity, endangerment, vigor, and general distribution ; counties where found ; and index numbers of the U . S . Geological Survey topographical quadrangle map (or maps) showing the locations where that plant has been collected or observed . The eight California Channel Islands are treated as areas separate from the counties to which they belong . 3 Basis For Inclusion of Plants To be included, a plant must be native to California and rare in California . However, it need not be restricted to California . Taxonomic ranks of species, subspecies, and variety are included, but forma and hybrids are excluded . The scientific names (with very few exceptions) are validly published . The exceptions are in process of publication . Authori- ties for scientific names are A California Flora, by Munz (1959), and Supple- ment to A California Flora, by Munz (1968), as well as recent taxonomic litera- ture . Definitions and Concepts Plant is used throughout to indicate collectively all the individuals referable to a given plant name . The information for each plant applies to all of that plant as it occurs in California . Because most people are put off by, or are afraid of, scientific names, English names are provided for most entries . It is a misnomer to say these are common names, because rare plants (by nature) are not common . Vernacular name is used as a compromise term . Since relatively few rare plants have common names, most vernacular names are contrived . A large portion of the vernacular names used were found in Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States, by Abrams (1923-1960), but most of those were themselves contrived. Where no name existed the Rare Plant Project staff invented one . An endangered plant is one threatened with extinction and is not likely to survive if causal factors now at work continue operating . A rare plant is one that exists in only one or a very few restricted localities, occurs 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 disappear or change for any reason . 4 A plant is presumed extinct if it cannot be found after diligent search of former known or likely sites of occurrence . Some plants may be extinct in the wild but survive under cultivation . When a plant is locally eliminatedexterminated, or, it is said to be extirpated for the locality . Technically, a plant is extinct only if it no longer exists anywhere on earth (in the wild) . To be meaningful in the con- 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- pated in San Joaquin and Contra Costa Counties but is still extant at one site in Alameda County . Empetrum hermaphrpditum is presumed extirpated in California, but is common further north . Rarity-Endangerment Codes . Most schemes for scoring the status of rare plants employ various of the following categories, listed here as they are usually assumed to be, in order from most to least critical concern : presumed extinct, endangered, threatened, rare, depleted, and undetermined . "Vulnerable," a recently added term, fits somewhere near threatened and rare . As a, result of many difficulties encountered earlier when a similar scheme was used,the CLAPS Rare Plant Project developed a completely different approach . The ideas contained in the list of categories above are divided into three major coordinate components or concepts . First, rareness or rarity is the amount a the plant both in terms of numbers and also in terms of manner and extent of distribution . Second, endangerment embodies the concept of a plant being threatened with extinction or extirpation for whatever reason . Third, for want of a better term, is vigor . The concept involved is the dynamics of the plant in terms of numbers of individuals or populations . For use within a specific region, a fourth concept is needed : general distribution . With regional boundaries defined (in this case the state of S California), a plant is endemic if restricted to that region . For a plant not endemic to California, the coding indicates whether it is rare or not rare outside California . Although it is clear that the components or concepts are strongly related, the Society believes they are not necessarily mutually exclusive, as seems to be implied in most systems . Each component (except rarity) is divided into three classes or degrees (from 1, least cause for concern, to 3, highly critical concern) . The only exception to this generalization is that when D is 3, this does not automatically indicate highly critical concern . Rarity (R) 1 . Rare, of limited distribution, but distributed widely enough that potential for extinction or extirpation is apparently low at present . 2 . Occurrence confined to several populations or one extended population . 3 . Occurs in such small numbers that it is seldom reported ; or occurs in one or very few highly restricted populations . P .E . Possibly extinct or extirpated . Endangerment (E) 1 . Not endangered . 2 . Endangered in part . 3 . Totally endangered . Vigor (V) 1 . Stable or increasing . 2 . Declining. 3 . Approaching extinction or extirpation . General Distribution (D) 1 .