''Pogogyne tenuiflora'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

species of

annual plant An annual plant is a plant that completes its life cycle, from germination to the production of seeds, within one growing season, and then dies. Globally, 6% of all plant species and 15% of herbaceous plants (excluding trees and shrubs) are ...

in the

mint family The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle, or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, sav ...

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 ...

Guadalupe Island Guadalupe Island () is a volcanic island located off the western coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula and about southwest of the city of Ensenada in the state of Baja California, in the Pacific Ocean. The various volcanoes are extinc ...

in the eastern Pacific, the Guadalupe mesa mint was only known from a single specimen collected by

Edward Palmer Edward Palmer may refer to: * Edward Palmer (d.1624) (1555–1624), antiquary and projector of a university in Virginia * Edward Palmer (socialist) (1802–1886), American religious socialist * Edward Palmer (Canadian politician) (1809–1889), Pri ...

in 1875. The species was described from Palmer's specimens by

Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botany, botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' (1876) was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessaril ...

in 1876. ''Pogogyne tenuiflora'' is a small, aromatic annual herb, with inflorescences consisting of flowers in

bracteate A bracteate (from the Latin ''bractea'', a thin piece of metal) is a flat, thin, single-sided gold medal worn as jewelry that was produced in Northern Europe predominantly during the Migration Period of the Germanic Iron Age (including the Ven ...

verticils forming dense terminal

spikes The SPIKES protocol is a method used in clinical medicine to break bad news to patients and families. As receiving bad news can cause distress and anxiety, clinicians need to deliver the news carefully. Using the SPIKES method for introducing and ...

. The corollas are blue-purple and tubular, with an erect, entire upper lip and a spreading 3-lobed lower lip. The corollas measure long. The lower pair of

stamens 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 filamen ...

measure long. The

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

is bearded for about below the branches. The two sterile upper anthers place this species within the ''Hedeomoides''

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

of ''Pogogyne'', which was recognized as its own genus by

John Isaac Briquet John Isaac Briquet (13 March 1870 in Geneva – 26 October 1931 in Geneva) was a Switzerland, Swiss botanist, director of the ''Conservatoire Botanique'' at Geneva. He received his education in natural sciences at Geneva and Berlin,

in 1896.Engler, Heinrich Gustav Adolf; Prantl, Karl Anton Eugen (1896) ''Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien'' 4, Abt. 3a: 295 During his visit, Palmer only saw this species very rarely among the sagebrush habitat on the eastern side of the island. By 1875, the

feral goats The feral goat is the domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') when it has become established in the wild. Feral goats occur in many parts of the world. Species Feral goats consist of many breeds of domestic goats, all of which stem from the wild go ...

, introduced years before by humans, had already started to devastate the environment of the island, leaving Palmer as the only person to document a number of species on the island that have also gone extinct, like the paleo-endemic

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

relative ''

Hesperelaea palmeri ''Hesperelaea'' is a plant genus with only one species, probably now extinct. ''Hesperelaea palmeri'' was found only on Guadalupe Island, a small island in the Pacific Ocean, part of the Mexican state of Baja California, about southwest of Ens ...

''. Ira Wiggins thought ''P. tenuiflora'' to 'probably' be extinct in his 1980

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

of the Baja California peninsula (including Guadalupe Island). Reid Moran considered ''P. tenuiflora'' to be 'undoubtedly' extinct in his 1996 treatise on the flora of the island. The San Diego Natural History Museum considers this species as 'likely' extinct. A 2013 phylogenetic study of the genus considers the species to be presumed extinct.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15353439 tenuiflora Endemic flora of Guadalupe Island Extinct flora of North America Plant extinctions since 1500 Species made extinct by human activities

See also

References