''Chorizanthe pungens'' is a species of flowering plant in the
buckwheat family known by the common name Monterey spineflower. It is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...
to
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, where it is known from the
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...
south along the
Central Coast.
Description
It grows mainly in coastal habitat and that of the hills and mountains overlooking the coastline. This is a generally erect but sometimes spreading or prostrate plant with stems up to half a meter in length. It is green to gray to red in color and usually hairy in texture. The leaves are located at the base of the plant; there are also
bract
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale.
Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also lo ...
s along the stem at the bases of the
inflorescence
In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...
s which look like leaves. The inflorescence is a dense cluster of flowers, each flower surrounded by six white to pink hairy bracts tipped in hooked awns. The flower itself is only a few millimeters wide with jagged
tepal
A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...
s.
Varieties
There are two varieties of this species:
*var. ''pungens'' is the more common, but is nevertheless a federally listed
threatened
A threatened species is any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which is vulnerable to extinction in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensatio ...
species under the
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting and conserving imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of e ...
.
*var. ''hartwegiana'' is known only from the
Santa Cruz Mountains
The Santa Cruz Mountains ( Mutsun Ohlone: Mak-sah-re-jah, "Sharp Ridged Mountain of the Eagle" or "People of the Eagle Mountain") are a mountain range in central and Northern California, United States, constituting a part of the Pacific Coast R ...
north of
Santa Cruz.
[Elkhorn Slough Local Profile]
/ref> This variety, known as the Ben Lomond spineflower, is treated as a federally listed endangered species
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...
. It is found in the same type of unique habitat, known as the Zayante sandhills, as other local rare endemic life forms such as the Ben Lomond wallflower '' Erysimum teretifolium'' and the Zayante band-winged grasshopper '' Trimerotropis infantilis''.[Santa Cruz Public Libraries Report]
Zayante Sandhills Conservation Bank
/ref> Threats to this plant and other endemic species include the destruction of the local habitat during sand mining.[
]
References
External links
''Chorizanthe pungens''.
Jepson eFlora 2013.
''Chorizanthe pungens''.
CalPhotos.
Further reading
Kluse, J. & D. F. Doak. (1999)
Demographic performance of a rare California endemic, ''Chorizanthe pungens'' var. ''hartwegiana'' (Polygonaceae).
''The American Midland Naturalist'' 142(2):244-56.
pungens
ESA threatened species
Endemic flora of California
Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands
Natural history of Monterey County, California
Natural history of Santa Cruz County, California
Plants described in 1836
Taxa named by George Bentham
{{Polygonaceae-stub