Cardamine micranthera | |
---|---|
In a stream in Patrick County, Virginia, USA | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Brassicales |
Family: | Brassicaceae |
Genus: | Cardamine |
Species: | C. micranthera |
Binomial name | |
Cardamine micranthera Rollins | |
Cardamine micranthera is a rare species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common names small-anthered bittercress and streambank bittercress. It is endemic to the Piedmont region around the border between Virginia and North Carolina, and is today restricted to the Dan River watershed. [1] It is in decline mainly because its habitat has been disturbed and destroyed by a number of processes. [1] By the 1960s the only known populations of the plant had disappeared and in the 1970s it was feared extinct. [3] [4] The plant was rediscovered in the 1980s and for a while was presumed to be a rare North Carolina endemic; populations in Virginia have been confirmed since. [1] [3] The plant was federally listed as an endangered species in 1989 when it was known from only four tiny populations on unprotected private land. [3] Today there are about 32 occurrences; one occurrence in North Carolina has been extirpated and five others there had no specimens found at the most recent survey. [1]
This is a perennial herb producing a slender, sometimes branching stem 20 to 40 centimeters tall. The leaves are alternately arranged and mostly simple, but the basal leaves may have small lobes. Each flower has four small white petals and stamens with tiny rounded anthers. The fruit is a silique around a centimeter long. The plant may be distinguished from its relative Cardamine rotundifolia by its smaller, rounder anthers, smaller petals, and shorter fruits. [1] [4]
This plant occurs in moist and wet, shady areas near streams, on sand and gravel bars within the stream bed and in dim woodlands. [1] It is an obligate wetland species. [5] : 34 This habitat around the North Carolina–Virginia border has been impacted by human activity such as conversion to pasture, agricultural fields, and residential property. [1] The land is also affected by surface runoff and herbicide drift from nearby agricultural operations, and trampling by livestock may occur. [1] Invasive plant species such as Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) and Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) now occur in the area. [1] Flooding [1] [4] and logging [4] have been listed as threats, as well.
Cardamine is a large genus of flowering plants in the mustard family, Brassicaceae, known as bittercresses and toothworts. It contains more than 200 species of annuals and perennials. Species in this genus can be found in diverse habitats worldwide, except the Antarctic. The name Cardamine is derived from the Greek kardaminē, water cress, from kardamon, pepper grass.
Platanthera yadonii, also known as Yadon's piperia or Yadon's rein orchid, is an endangered orchid endemic to a narrow range of coastal habitat in northern Monterey County, California. In 1998 this plant was designated as an endangered species by the United States government, the major threat to its survival being continuing land development from an expanding human population and associated habitat loss. One of the habitats of Yadon's piperia, the Del Monte Forest near Monterey, California, is the subject of a federal lawsuit, based upon endangerment of this organism along with several other endangered species.
Lilium pardalinum subsp. pitkinense, the Pitkin Marsh lily, is an endangered perennial herb of the family Liliaceae that is endemic to certain wetland areas in the northern California Coast Ranges of Sonoma County, California, United States. It is a subspecies of Lilium pardalinum.
Erysimum teretifolium is a species of Erysimum known by the common names Santa Cruz wallflower and Ben Lomond wallflower. It is a very rare plant endemic to Santa Cruz County, California, where it grows on inland sand spits, chaparral, and sandstone deposits in the southern Santa Cruz Mountains. It is a California state and federally listed endangered species.
Arctostaphylos myrtifolia is a rare species of manzanita known by the common name Ione manzanita. It is endemic to the Sierra Nevada foothills of California. It grows in the chaparral and woodland plant community on a distinctive acidic soil series, an oxisol of the Eocene-era Ione Formation, in western Amador and northern Calaveras counties. There are only eleven occurrences, of which three have not been recorded since 1976. This is a federally listed threatened species.
Eremogone ursina is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common name Bear Valley sandwort.
Calyptridium pulchellum, synonym Cistanthe pulchella, is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae. It is known by the common name Mariposa pussypaws. It is endemic to the Sierra Nevada foothills of central California, where it is known from only a few scattered occurrences. It grows on barren patches of granite gravel in woodland and grasslands. It is a federally listed threatened species.
Cardamine breweri is a species of cardamine known by the common name Brewer's bittercress. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to California to Colorado, where it grows in coniferous forests, particularly in wet bog habitats.
Cardamine oligosperma is a species of Cardamine known by the common name little western bittercress, native to western North America.
Aeschynomene virginica is a rare species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names Virginia jointvetch and sensitive jointvetch. It is native to a small section of the East Coast of the United States, where it has a fluctuating annual global population scattered in about 20 mostly small occurrences. Counts and estimates revealed two populations in New Jersey including several thousand individuals, one population of a few hundred plants in Maryland, several variable and unstable populations in ditches in North Carolina, and several populations including about 5000 individuals in Virginia. Habitat alteration has reduced the number of sites where the plant can grow. The plant became a federally listed threatened species of the United States in 1992.
Borodinia serotina is a rare species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common name shale barren rockcress. It is native to eastern West Virginia and western Virginia in and around the Shenandoah Valley, where it is known from 62 populations. It is endemic to the shale barrens, a type of habitat characterized by steep slopes of bare shale, an exposed, rocky habitat type that is subject to very dry and hot conditions. Shale barrens host a number of endemics, such as Allium oxyphilum and Taenidia montana, and this rockcress is among the rarest. It is a federally listed endangered species.
Asimina pulchella is a rare species of flowering plant in the custard apple family known by the common names beautiful pawpaw, royal false pawpaw, and white squirrel banana. It is a federally listed endangered species.
Asimina rugelii is a rare species of flowering plant in the custard apple family known by the common names Rugel's pawpaw, Rugel's false pawpaw, and yellow squirrel banana. It is endemic to Volusia County, Florida, in the United States, where there are fewer than 5000 plants remaining in severely fragmented habitat. The main threat to this species is habitat destruction and degradation. It was federally listed as an endangered species in 1986.
Lysimachia asperulifolia is a rare species of flowering plant in the Primulaceae known by the common name rough-leaved loosestrife and roughleaf yellow loosestrife. It is endemic to the Atlantic coastal plain in North Carolina and northern South Carolina in the United States, where there are 64 known populations. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.
Sidalcea nelsoniana is a rare species of flowering plant in the mallow family known by the common names Nelson's checkerbloom and Nelson's checkermallow. It is native to the Willamette Valley and Coast Range of Oregon and the southwestern corner of Washington in the United States. It is threatened by the destruction and degradation of its habitat, and it is a federally listed threatened species of the United States.
Silene polypetala is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names eastern fringed catchfly and fringed campion. It is native to Georgia and northern Florida in the United States. It is threatened by the loss and degradation of suitable habitat. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.
Spiranthes delitescens is a rare species of orchid known by the common names reclusive lady's tresses, Canelo Hills lady's tresses, and Madrean lady's tresses. It is native to Arizona in the United States, where there are only four occurrences. It is threatened by the loss and degradation of its habitat. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.
Parnassia caroliniana is a species of flowering plant in the Celastraceae known by the common name Carolina grass of Parnassus. It is native to the southeastern United States, where it occurs in North Carolina and South Carolina, with an isolated population in the Florida Panhandle.
Leavenworthia crassa is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family, Brassicaceae, known commonly as the fleshy-fruit gladecress. It is endemic to Alabama in the United States, where it occurs in only two counties. It is "likely one of the most imperiled plant species in the Southeast," and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service issued a final rule listing it as an endangered species in 2014.
Cardamine douglassii, the limestone bittercress or purple cress, is a perennial forb native to the eastern and central United States as well as the province of Ontario in Canada, that produces white to pink or purple flowers in early spring.