Brodiaea filifolia

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Brodiaea filifolia
Brodiaeafilifolia.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asparagaceae
Subfamily: Brodiaeoideae
Genus: Brodiaea
Species:B. filifolia
Binomial name
Brodiaea filifolia
S.Wats.
Synonyms

Hookera filifolia

Brodiaea filifolia (thread-leaved brodiaea), San Gabriel Valley Brodiaea filifolia (thread-leaved brodiaea).jpg
Brodiaea filifolia (thread-leaved brodiaea), San Gabriel Valley

Brodiaea filifolia, known by the common name threadleaf brodiaea, is a rare species of flowering plant in the cluster-lily genus . It is endemic to southern California, mostly in the region around the junction of Orange, Riverside, and San Diego Counties.

<i>Brodiaea</i> genus of plants

Brodiaea, also known by the common name cluster-lilies, is a monocot genus of flowering plants in the Themidaceae family, in the Asparagales order.

Endemism ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location or habitat

Endemism is the ecological state of a species being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation, country or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. The extreme opposite of endemism is cosmopolitan distribution. An alternative term for a species that is endemic is precinctive, which applies to species that are restricted to a defined geographical area.

California State of the United States of America

California is a state in the Pacific Region of the United States. With 39.6 million residents, California is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area. The state capital is Sacramento. The Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second and fifth most populous urban regions, with 18.7 million and 8.8 million residents respectively. Los Angeles is California's most populous city, and the country's second most populous, after New York City. California also has the nation's most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The City and County of San Francisco is both the country's second-most densely populated major city after New York City and the fifth-most densely populated county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs.

Contents

The bulb is a resident of scattered remaining vernal pool and grassland habitats. It is a federally listed threatened species and it is listed as an endangered species on the state level.

Vernal pool Temporary pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals

Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are seasonal pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals. They are considered to be a distinctive type of wetland usually devoid of fish, and thus allow the safe development of natal amphibian and insect species unable to withstand competition or predation by fish. Certain tropical fish lineages have however adapted to this habitat specifically.

Grassland areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae)

Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae); however, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) families can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica. Grasslands are found in most ecoregions of the Earth. For example, there are five terrestrial ecoregion classifications (subdivisions) of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (ecosystem), which is one of eight terrestrial ecozones of the Earth's surface.

Endangered species Species of organisms facing a very high risk of extinction

An endangered species is a species which has been categorized as very likely to become extinct. Endangered (EN), as categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, is the second most severe conservation status for wild populations in the IUCN's schema after Critically Endangered (CR).

Description

Brodiaea filifolia is a perennial producing an inflorescence 20 to 30 centimeters tall which bears bright purple flowers. Each flower has six spreading tepals 1 to 1.5 centimeters long with a center containing three stamens and narrow or small staminodes, which are flat sterile stamens lying against the tepals.

Inflorescence term used in botany

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. The modifications can involve the length and the nature of the internodes and the phyllotaxis, as well as variations in the proportions, compressions, swellings, adnations, connations and reduction of main and secondary axes. Inflorescence can also be defined as the reproductive portion of a plant that bears a cluster of flowers in a specific pattern.

Tepal

A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower. 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, as in Magnolia, or because, although it is possible to distinguish an outer whorl of sepals from an inner whorl of petals, the sepals and petals have similar appearance to one another. The term was first proposed by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in 1827 and was constructed by analogy with the terms "petal" and "sepal".

Stamen floral organ

The stamen is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium.

Conservation

This plant occurs in grassland areas, often in floodplains, and it is a member of the local vernal pool flora. [1] It requires heavy clay soils. [1] This type of habitat is becoming very rare as it is being cleared for development, especially as residential areas expand. [1] Undeveloped land near residential areas is degraded by exotic vegetation, mowing and other fire suppression efforts, sewage dumping, grazing of livestock, off-road vehicle use, and other processes. [1] [2]

Floodplain Land adjacent to a stream or river which is flooded during periods of high discharge

A floodplain or flood plain is an area of land adjacent to a stream or river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge. The soils usually consist of levees, silts, and sands deposited during floods. Levees are the heaviest materials and they are deposited first; silts and sands are finer materials.

Clay A finely-grained natural rock or soil material that combines one or more clay minerals

Clay is a finely-grained natural rock or soil material that combines one or more clay minerals with possible traces of quartz (SiO2), metal oxides (Al2O3, MgO etc.) and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure. Clays are plastic due to particle size and geometry as well as water content, and become hard, brittle and non–plastic upon drying or firing. Depending on the soil's content in which it is found, clay can appear in various colours from white to dull grey or brown to deep orange-red.

Introduced species

An introduced species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there by human activity, either deliberate or accidental. Non-native species can have various effects on the local ecosystem. Introduced species that become established and spread beyond the place of introduction are called invasive species. The impact of introduced species is highly variable. Some have a negative effect on a local ecosystem, while other introduced species may have no negative effect or only minor impact. Some species have been introduced intentionally to combat pests. They are called biocontrols and may be regarded as beneficial as an alternative to pesticides in agriculture for example. In some instances the potential for being beneficial or detrimental in the long run remains unknown.

The plant is also at risk for reduced genetic variability. It often reproduces vegetatively by producing new corms, a method of cloning which does not produce individuals with new combinations of genes. [1] When the plant does reproduce sexually, it requires unrelated individuals which have different genes; it cannot fertilize itself, nor can it successfully reproduce with closely related individuals. [1] Small population sizes that have low genetic diversity and wide distances between populations make it less likely the plant will successfully undergo sexual reproduction. [1] [2] The plant sometimes hybridizes with Brodiaea orcuttii . [2]

Genetic variability is either the presence of, or the generation of, genetic differences.

Vegetative reproduction form of asexual reproduction in plants

Vegetative reproduction is any form of asexual reproduction occurring in plants in which a new plant grows from a fragment of the parent plant or a specialized reproductive structure.

Corm

A corm, bulbo-tuber, or bulbotuber is a short, vertical, swollen underground plant stem that serves as a storage organ that some plants use to survive winter or other adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat (perennation).

There are about 68 occurrences remaining in widely spaced locations between the San Gabriel Mountains and west-central San Diego County. [2] Several occurrences have been discovered since the plant joined the endangered species list, including locations on Camp Pendleton, and a few have been extirpated. [2]

San Gabriel Mountains mountain range in Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties, California

The San Gabriel Mountains are a mountain range located in northern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Transverse Ranges and lies between the Los Angeles Basin and the Mojave Desert, with Interstate 5 to the west and Interstate 15 to the east. This range lies in, and is surrounded by, the Angeles National Forest, with the San Andreas Fault as the northern border of the range.

Local extinction or extirpation is the condition of a species that ceases to exist in the chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinctions.

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<i>Triteleia hyacinthina</i> species of plant

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 The Nature Conservancy
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 USFWS. Five-year Review: B. filifolia. August 13, 2009.
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