SPECIAL VASCULAR PLANTS, BRYOPHYTES, AND LICHENS LIST October 2021 State of California Natural Resources Agency Department of Fish and Wildlife Biogeographic Data Branch California Natural Diversity Database (CNDDB) Recommended Citation: California Natural Diversity Database (CNDDB). October 2021. Special Vascular Plants, Bryophytes, and Lichens List. California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Sacramento, CA. Table of Contents Special Plants ........................................................................................................................ i NatureServe Element Ranking for Plants ........................................................................... iii Element Ranking .................................................................................................................. v California Rare Plant Ranks............................................................................................... viii Special Lichens ................................................................................................................... xii Other Status .......................................................................................................................xiii Rare Plant Seed Banking .................................................................................................... xiv Protocols for Surveying and Evaluating Impacts to Special Status Native Plant Populations and Sensitive Natural Communities .............................................................. xv Special Vascular Plants, Bryophytes, and Lichens List ...................................................... xvi Special Plants “Special Plants” is a broad term used to refer to all the plant taxa inventoried by the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s California Natural Diversity Database (CNDDB), regardless of their legal or protection status. Special Plants include vascular plants as well as high priority bryophytes (mosses, liverworts, and hornworts) and lichens. Special Plant taxa are species, subspecies, or varieties that fall into one or more of the following categories. Not all plants within each category are necessarily tracked as Special Plants but these categories are often used as a starting point when determining which plants are tracked by the CNDDB: • Officially listed by California or the Federal Government as Endangered, Threatened, or Rare; • A candidate for state or federal listing as Endangered, Threatened, or Rare; • Taxa listed in the California Native Plant Society’s Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants of California; • Taxa which meet the criteria for listing, even if not currently included on any list, as described in Section 15380 of the California Environmental Equality Act (CEQA) Guidelines; these taxa may indicate “None” under listing status, but note that all California Rare Plant Rank 1 and 2 and some Rank 3 and 4 plants may fall under Section 15380 of CEQA; • Taxa that are biologically rare, very restricted in distribution, or declining throughout their range but not currently threatened with extirpation; • A Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, or U.S. Forest Service Sensitive Species/Species of Conservation Concern; • Population(s) in California that may be peripheral to the major portion of a taxon’s range but are threatened with extirpation in California; and i • Taxa closely associated with a habitat that is declining in California at a significant rate (e.g. wetlands, riparian, vernal pools, old growth forests, desert aquatic systems, native grasslands, valley shrubland habitats, etc.). The Special Vascular Plants, Bryophytes, and Lichens List (located at the end of this document) contains taxa that are actively inventoried, tracked, and mapped by the CNDDB (California Rare Plant Rank 1 and 2 plants) as well as taxa which we track but for which we currently only have quad and county level geographic information available to our users (California Rare Plant Rank 3 and 4 plants). For the latter taxa, we maintain site and other information in manual files along with Internet access to the quad and county level information via our CNDDB QuickView Tool. ii NatureServe Element Ranking for Plants All Heritage Programs, including the California Natural Diversity Database (CNDDB) use the same ranking methodology, originally developed by The Nature Conservancy and now maintained and periodically revised by NatureServe. It includes a Global rank (G rank), describing the rank for a given taxon over its entire distribution and a State rank (S rank), describing the rank for the taxon over its state distribution. For subspecies and varieties, there is also a “T” rank describing the global rank for the subspecies or variety. The next section of this document details the criteria used to assign element ranks, from G1 to G5 for the Global rank and from S1 to S5 for the State rank. Procedurally, state programs such as the CNDDB develop the State ranks and the Global ranks collaboratively among states/provinces containing the species. NatureServe then checks for consistency and logical errors at the national level. An element rank is assigned using standard criteria and rank definitions. This standardization makes the ranks comparable across organism and political boundaries. NatureServe has developed a “rank calculator” to help increase repeatability and transparency of the ranking process. The three main categories that are taken into consideration when assigning an element rank are rarity, threats, and trends. Within these three categories, various factors are considered including: • Range extent, area of occupancy, population size, number of occurrences, and number of good occurrences (ranked A or B). Environmental specificity can also be used if other information is lacking. • Overall threat impact as well as intrinsic vulnerability (if threats are unknown). • Long-term and short-term trends. iii Detailed information on the newest element ranking methodology can be found on the NatureServe Publications webpage. With the above considerations in mind, refer below for the definitions for G1-G5 and S1- S5. An element’s ranking status may be adjusted up or down depending upon the considerations above. iv Element Ranking Global Ranking The Global rank (G rank) is a reflection of the overall status of an element throughout its global range. Both Global and State ranks represent a letter + number score that reflects a combination of Rarity, Threat and Trend factors, with weighting being heavier on Rarity. Species or natural community level: • GX - Presumed extinct • GH - Possibly extinct; known only from historical occurrences but there is still some hope of rediscovery. • G1 - Critically imperiled; at very high risk of extinction or elimination due to very restricted range, very few populations or occurrences, very steep declines, very severe threats, or other factors. • G2 - Imperiled; at high risk of extinction or elimination due to restricted range, few populations or occurrences, steep declines, severe threats, or other factors. • G3 - Vulnerable; at moderate risk of extinction or elimination due to a fairly restricted range, relatively few populations or occurrences, recent and widespread declines, threats, or other factors. • G4 - Apparently secure; at fairly low risk of extinction or elimination due to an extensive range and/or many populations or occurrences, but with possible cause for some concern as a result of local recent declines, threats, or other factors. • G5 - Secure; at very low risk of extinction or elimination due to a very extensive range, abundant populations or occurrences, and little to no concern from declines or threats. v Subspecies/variety level: Subspecies/varieties receive a T rank attached to the G rank. With the subspecies/varieties, the G rank reflects the condition of the entire species, whereas the T rank reflects the global situation of just the subspecies or variety. For example: Chorizanthe robusta var. hartwegii is ranked G2T1. The G rank refers to the whole species range i.e., Chorizanthe robusta. The T rank refers only to the global condition of var. hartwegii. State Ranking The State rank (S rank) is assigned much the same way as the Global rank, but State ranks refer to the imperilment status only within California’s state boundaries. • SX - Presumed extirpated • SH - Possibly extirpated; known only from historical occurrences but there is still some hope of rediscovery. • S1 - Critically imperiled; at very high risk of extirpation in the jurisdiction due to very restricted range, very few populations or occurrences, very steep declines, severe threats, or other factors. • S2 - Imperiled; at high risk of extirpation in the jurisdiction due to restricted range, few populations or occurrences, steep declines, severe threats, or other factors. • S3 - Vulnerable; at moderate risk of extirpation in the jurisdiction due to a fairly restricted range, relatively few populations or occurrences, recent and widespread declines, threats, or other factors. • S4 - Apparently secure; at a fairly low risk of extirpation in the jurisdiction due to an extensive range and/or many populations or occurrences, but with possible vi cause for some concern as a result of local recent declines, threats, or other factors. • S5 - Secure; at very low or no risk of extirpation in the jurisdiction due to a very extensive range, abundant populations or occurrences, with little to no concern from declines or threats. Additional Notes on NatureServe Ranks Other