''Toxicoscordion fontanum'', common name small-flower death camas, is a rare plant species known only from serpentine marshes in

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 ...

. It is found primarily in the

Coast Ranges The Pacific Coast Ranges (officially gazetted as the Pacific Mountain System in the United States; ; ) are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along the West Coast of North America from Alaska south to Northern and Central Mexico. Althoug ...

from

Mendocino County Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish language, Spanish for "of Antonio de Mendoza, Mendoza") is a County (United States), county located on the North Coast (California), North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United S ...

San Luis Obispo County San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo. Junípero Serra fou ...

, with an additional report of an isolated population in 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 combination of climate, topography, ...

Kern County Kern County is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield. Kern County compris ...

east of

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's population as of the ...

. ''Toxicoscordion fontanum'' is a bulb-forming perennial herb. Bulbs are egg-shaped, up to 40 mm (1.6 inches) long, not clumped together. Inflorescences are

paniculate In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a pa ...

, sometimes with as many as 100 flowers.

Tepals 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 ve ...

are cream-colored, up to 12 mm (0.5 inches) long; filaments shorter than the

tepals 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 ve ...

Toxicity

As with many other species formerly included in ''Zigadenus'', this species is highly toxic and potentially lethal to humans and to livestock. Some people have eaten it confusing it with wild onion, ''Allium'' spp. ''Zigadenus'', despite ''Toxicoscordion'' not having the characteristic onion scent associated with ''Allium'' spp.

Ecology

It is not unusual to find species that specialize in growing on serpentine soil. There are scattered pocket of this soil in various parts of

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 ...

, and elsewhere.

Metamorphic Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causi ...

rocks such as

serpentinite Serpentinite is a metamorphic rock composed predominantly of serpentine group minerals formed by serpentinization of mafic or ultramafic rocks. The ancient origin of the name is uncertain; it may be from the similarity of its texture or color ...

are formed well below the earth's surface then carried upward by geologic activity. Soils made from such rocks tend to be low in nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus but high in nickel and chromium. Such conditions are toxic to most plants, but some species such as ''T. fontanum'' have evolved with adaptations allowing them to tolerate

serpentine soils Serpentine soil is an uncommon soil type produced by weathered ultramafic rock such as peridotite and its metamorphic derivatives such as serpentinite. More precisely, serpentine soil contains minerals of the serpentine subgroup, especially antig ...

.Alexander, E. B.; Coleman, R. G.; Keeler-Wolf, T.; Harrison, S. (2007). Serpentine Geoecology of Western North America: Geology, Soils, and Vegetation. New York: Oxford University Press. .

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15544618 fontanum Endemic flora of California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Plants described in 1937 Flora without expected TNC conservation status