''Kalmiopsis fragrans'' is a rare species of flowering plant in the

heath family The Ericaceae () are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with about 4,250 known species spread across 124 genera, maki ...

known by the common name North Umpqua kalmiopsis. 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 ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

in the United States, where there are just a few known populations, all within Douglas County. This plant has been known since the 1950s but it was generally treated as a form of ''

Kalmiopsis leachiana ''Kalmiopsis leachiana'', commonly referred to as Siskiyou kalmiopsis, is a rare flowering plant endemic to the Siskiyou Mountains of southwest Oregon, where it is specially protected in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness reserve. It was discovered in 1 ...

''.''Kalmiopsis fragrans''.
Flora of North America. Retrieved 10-16-2011. In 2007 it was separated and described as a new species.Meinke, R. J. and T. N. Kaye. 2007. ''Kalmiopsis fragrans'' (Ericaceae), a new distylous species from the southern Cascade mountains of Oregon. ''Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas'' 1(1): 9-19. It differs slightly from ''K. leachiana'' in the size and shape of the flower.

Description

''Kalmiopsis fragrans'' is a

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

which grows tall. The aromatic, glandular green leaves are oval or oblong in shape and variable in size, up to about at the largest. 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 ...

bears 2 to 12 showy pink flowers each in diameter. The protruding

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s are tipped with purple anthers and have tufts of yellow hairs around the bases. The plant is distylous, some individuals having long stamens and a short

pistil Gynoecium (; ; : gynoecia) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl (botany), whorl of a flower; it consists ...

, and some having short stamens and a long pistil.

Distribution and habitat

The

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

of ''K. fragrans'' is limited to a small strip of territory along the North and South

Umpqua River The Umpqua River ( ) on the Pacific coast of Oregon in the United States is approximately long. One of the principal rivers of the Oregon Coast and known for bass and shad, the river drains an expansive network of valleys in the mountains west ...

in the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington (state), Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as m ...

of southwestern Oregon. It grows in rocky habitat, such as

scree Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. The term ''scree'' is ap ...

slopes and piles of boulders, and can take hold in areas with very little soil. The rock type frequently associated with the shrub is

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock co ...

. Other plants in the area include several types of

conifers Conifers () are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All e ...

as well as

Oregon-grape ''Berberis aquifolium'', the Oregon grape or holly-leaved barberry, is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Berberidaceae. It is an evergreen shrub growing up to tall and wide, with pinnate leaves consisting of spiny leafle ...

(''Mahonia nervosa''), ocean spray (''Holodiscus discolor''),

salal ''Gaultheria shallon'' is an evergreen shrub in the heather family (Ericaceae), native to western North America. Common names include salal (), shallon, or (mainly in Britain) gaultheria. Description ''Gaultheria shallon'' is tall, sprawli ...

(''Gaultheria shallon''),

redwood sorrel ''Oxalis oregana'', known as redwood sorrel or Oregon oxalis, is a species of the wood sorrel family, Oxalidaceae, in the genus ''Oxalis'' native to moist Douglas-fir and coast redwood forests of western North America from southwestern British Co ...

(''Oxalis oregana''), western sword fern (''Polystichum munitum''),

twinflower ''Linnaea borealis'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Caprifoliaceae (the honeysuckle family). It is the only species in the genus ''Linnaea''. It is a boreal to subarctic woodland subshrub, commonly known as twinflower (sometimes ...

(''Linnaea borealis''), wood rose (''Rosa gymnocarpa''),

pinedrops ''Pterospora'', commonly known as pinedrops, woodland pinedrops, Albany beechdrops, or giant bird's nest, is a North American genus in the subfamily Monotropoideae of the Ericaceae, heath family, and includes only the species ''Pterospora an ...

(''Pterospora andromedea''), fringed pinesap (''Pleuricospora fimbriolata''), sugar stick (''Allotropa virgata''), Pacific rhododendron (''Rhododendron macrophyllum''),

vine maple ''Acer circinatum'', or vine maple, is a species of maple native to northwestern North America. Vine maple typically grows as a low-elevation coastal tree in temperate areas of high precipitation such as the west coast of Oregon and northern Cal ...

(''Acer circinatum''),

poison oak Poison oak refers to two plant species in the genus '' Toxicodendron,'' both of which can cause skin irritation: *'' Toxicodendron diversilobum'' or Pacific poison oak, found in western North America *'' Toxicodendron pubescens'' or Atlantic po ...

(''Toxicodendron diversilobum''), western rattlesnake plantain (''Goodyera oblongifolia''), false lupine (''Thermopsis montana''), yellowleaf iris (''Iris chrysophylla''), white-veined wintergreen (''Pyrola picta''), northern sanicle (''Sanicula graveolens''), calypso orchid (''Calypso bulbosa''), cream fawnlily (''Erythronium citrinum''), and field woodrush (''Luzula campestris''). The total population of this plant is estimated to be no more than 2500 individuals. Threats to the rare plant include

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksseedling A seedling is a young sporophyte developing out of a plant embryo from a seed. Seedling development starts with germination of the seed. A typical young seedling consists of three main parts: the radicle (embryonic root), the hypocotyl (embry ...

s, but it probably spreads via

vegetative reproduction Vegetative reproduction (also known as vegetative propagation, vegetative multiplication or cloning) is a form of asexual reproduction occurring in plants in which a new plant grows from a fragment or cutting of the parent plant or specializ ...

References

External links

* *
''Kalmiopsis fragrans'' - U.C. Photo Gallery
{{Taxonbar, from=Q6354094 Ericoideae Flora of Oregon Endemic flora of the United States Douglas County, Oregon Plants described in 2007 Endemic flora of Oregon