''Calystegia stebbinsii'' is a rare species of

morning glory Morning glory (also written as morning-glory) is the common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae, whose current taxonomy and systematics are in flux. Morning glory species belong to many genus, genera, ...

known by the common name Stebbins' false bindweed. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to the

Sierra Nevada foothills :''See Sierra Nevada for general information about the mountain range in the United States.'' The ecology of the Sierra Nevada, located in the U.S. states of California and Nevada, is diverse and complex: the plants and animals are a significant ...

and the Tehachapi Mountains in Kern County, of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. It grows in unique habitat in

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterrane ...

gabbro Gabbro () is a phaneritic (coarse-grained), mafic intrusive igneous rock formed from the slow cooling of magnesium-rich and iron-rich magma into a holocrystalline mass deep beneath the Earth's surface. Slow-cooling, coarse-grained gabbro is ...

soils. It is a federally listed endangered species.

Description

''Calystegia stebbinsii'' is a perennial herb producing climbing, white haired, vine-like stems approaching a meter in maximum length. The leaves are up to about 5 centimeters long and palmate in shape with 7 to 9 long, narrow lobes; the distinctive shape of the leaves make the plant easy to identify among the morning glories native to the region. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed ...

bears flowers atop long peduncles, each flower about 3 centimeters wide and white or cream-yellow in color, sometimes tinted with pink. They are

pollinated Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds, ...

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

s and other insects.Hinshaw, G
Pine Hill Preserve Management Plan.
July 2008. Like many other chaparral plants, this species has seeds which are stimulated to

germinate Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fer ...

by exposure to

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...

.The Nature Conservancy
/ref> It also reproduces via rhizome.

Conservation

The plant's

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...

was collected by

G. Ledyard Stebbins George Ledyard Stebbins Jr. (January 6, 1906 – January 19, 2000) was an American botanist and geneticist who is widely regarded as one of the leading evolutionary biologists of the 20th century. Stebbins received his Ph.D. in botany from Ha ...

in 1970 outside of

Placerville, California Placerville (, ; formerly Old Dry Diggings, Dry Diggings, and Hangtown) is a city in and the county seat of El Dorado County, California. The population was 10,747 as of the 2020 census, up from 10,389 as of the 2010 census. It is part of the Sa ...

.USFWS
Determination of endangered status for four plants and threatened status for one plant from the central Sierran foothills of California.
''Federal Register'' October 18, 1996. The species was described to science and named for him in 1974.Brummitt, R. K. (1974). A remarkable new species of ''Calystegia'' (Convolvulaceae) from California. ''Kew Bulletin'' 29:3 499. The plant is known from only two locations, each containing a scattering of occurrences. Both locations are on the Pine Hill

intrusion In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...

, a section of gabbro-based rock that oozed as

magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natura ...

into the surrounding rock and then solidified there, eventually becoming exposed as the softer rock around them

eroded Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

away. This gabbro intrusion yields red-colored soil that is rich in heavy metals, and some plants are

adapted In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...

to this kind of substrate. ''C. stebbinsii'' grows on the gabbro soil as well as the similar serpentine soil that can also be found in the intrusion. Other species are completely limited to the gabbro sections. The

Pine Hill Ecological Reserve Pine Hill Ecological Reserve is a nature reserve of located due east of Folsom Lake in the Sierra Nevada foothills, in El Dorado County, California. The reserve was established in 1979, and is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The Pine ...

was established to protect these unique and often rare plant species. At the time it was placed on the endangered species list, at least one third of the known occurrences of the plant had been destroyed, mostly by development of its habitat. Most of the sites that still existed were in danger of destruction. With destruction and

fragmentation Fragmentation or fragmented may refer to: Computers * Fragmentation (computing), a phenomenon of computer storage * File system fragmentation, the tendency of a file system to lay out the contents of files non-continuously * Fragmented distributi ...

of the habitat come associated activity such as

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

construction, trash dumping,

off-road vehicle An off-road vehicle, sometimes referred to as an overland or adventure vehicle, is considered to be any type of vehicle which is capable of driving on and off paved or gravel surface. It is generally characterized by having large tires with d ...

use, and herbicides. The plant does not tolerate shade, and when the brush around it grows too high and shades it out, it does not survive. This suggests it requires disturbance, such as

, to clear the overgrowth.

Fire suppression Wildfire suppression is a range of firefighting tactics used to suppress wildfires. Firefighting efforts in wild land areas require different techniques, equipment, and training from the more familiar structure fire fighting found in populated a ...

is detrimental. Protected and managed areas of the habitat undergo

controlled burn A controlled or prescribed burn, also known as hazard reduction burning, backfire, swailing, or a burn-off, is a fire set intentionally for purposes of forest management, farming, prairie restoration or greenhouse gas abatement. A contro ...

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment - ''Calystegia stebbinsii''''Calystegia stebbinsii'' - Photo gallery
{{Taxonbar, from=Q148359 stebbinsii Endemic flora of California Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of El Dorado County, California Natural history of Nevada County, California Plants described in 1974 NatureServe critically imperiled species Critically endangered flora of California