| Nitrophila mohavensis | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Caryophyllales |
| Family: | Amaranthaceae |
| Genus: | Nitrophila |
| Species: | N. mohavensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Nitrophila mohavensis Munz & Roos | |
Nitrophila mohavensis is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae known by the common name Amargosa niterwort. It is endemic to Nye County in southwestern Nevada and Inyo County, in eastern California.
Nitrophila mohavensis is endemic to the Amargosa Desert, straddling the border of California and Nevada east of Death Valley and near Death Valley National Park. There are three occurrences known on the Nevada side [2] and fewer than five occurrences in California. [3]
The plant grows only in alkaline salt pans made up of moist and drying, salt-encrusted clay soils surrounded by other halophytes, such as Atriplex confertifolia and Cleomella brevipes . [2] [4]
Nitrophila mohavensis, the Amargosa niterwort, is a petite rhizomatous perennial herb growing no more than about 10 centimeters tall. It produces erect branches, often in pairs, covered in fleshy oval-shaped green leaves 3 or 4 millimeters long.
The inflorescence is a solitary flower or cluster of a few flowers emerging from between the leaves. The flower lacks petals but has pink petallike sepals which fade white with age.
Nitrophila mohavensis is a federally listed endangered species. Its range is restricted and highly localized, making it vulnerable to severe losses or extinction in a single event. [5]
The plant only occurs within and around the remnants of Carson Slough in the Ash Meadows area, including within Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge which is a protected area but is still affected by alterations in the hydrology of the landscape. [3] The plant relies on saturation of its soil by a high water table, and the main threat to its existence is the pumping of groundwater. [6] Other threats include potassium and zeolite mining in the area and occasional illegal off-road vehicle use. [6]
The Amargosa River is an intermittent waterway, 185 miles (298 km) long, in southern Nevada and eastern California in the United States. The Amargosa River is one out of two rivers located in the California portion of the Mojave Desert with perennial flow. It drains a high desert region, the Amargosa Valley in the Amargosa Desert northwest of Las Vegas, into the Mojave Desert, and finally into Death Valley where it disappears into the ground aquifer. Except for a small portion of its route in the Amargosa Canyon in California and a small portion at Beatty, Nevada, the river flows above ground only after a rare rainstorm washes the region. A 26-mile (42 km) stretch of the river between Shoshone and Dumont Dunes is protected as a National Wild and Scenic River. At the south end of Tecopa Valley the Amargosa River Natural Area protects the habitat.
The Amargosa Valley is the valley through which the Amargosa River flows south, in Nye County, southwestern Nevada and Inyo County in the state of California. The south end is alternately called the "Amargosa River Valley'" or the "Tecopa Valley." Its northernmost point is around Beatty, Nevada and southernmost is Tecopa, California, where the Amargosa River enters into the Amargosa Canyon.
The Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is a protected wildlife refuge located in the Amargosa Valley of southern Nye County, in southwestern Nevada. It is directly east of Death Valley National Park, and is 90 mi (140 km) west-northwest of Las Vegas.
The Amargosa Desert is located in Nye County in western Nevada, United States, along the California–Nevada border, comprising the northeastern portion of the geographic Amargosa Valley, north of the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.
Eriodictyon altissimum is a rare species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common name Indian Knob mountainbalm. It is endemic to San Luis Obispo County, California, where it is known from only about six occurrences in the Irish Hills on the coast and nearby Indian Knob.
Verbena californica is a rare species of verbena known by the common names California vervain and Red Hills vervain. This flower is endemic to Tuolumne County, California, where it is known from ten or eleven occurrences in the Red Hills, a section of the Sierra Nevada foothills near Chinese Camp. It grows in moist woodland habitat, often on serpentine soils. It is a federally listed threatened species of the United States.
Erysimum menziesii is a species of Erysimum known by the common name Menzies' wallflower.
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.
Calystegia stebbinsii is a rare species of morning glory known by the common name Stebbins' false bindweed. It is endemic to the Sierra Nevada foothills of California, where it is known from only two spots in El Dorado and Nevada Counties. It grows in unique habitat in chaparral on gabbro soils. It is a federally listed endangered species.
Eryngium racemosum is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae known by the common name delta eryngo, or delta button celery.
Pseudobahia peirsonii is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names San Joaquin adobe sunburst and Tulare pseudobahia. It is endemic to California, where it is known from a few mostly small occurrences along the southeastern side of the San Joaquin Valley where it rises into the Sierra Nevada foothills. It grows in grassland and oak woodland habitat. It prefers heavy adobe clay soils. The plant became a federally listed threatened of the United States in 1997.
Packera layneae, known by the common name Layne's ragwort and Layne's butterweed, is a rare species of flowering plant in the aster family.
Astragalus phoenix is a rare species of milkvetch commonly known as Ash Meadows milkvetch. It is mostly found in Nye County, southwestern Nevada.
Zeltnera namatophila, the spring-loving centaury, is a rare species of flowering plant in the gentian family. It is endemic to the Amargosa Valley, in Nye County, southwestern Nevada.
Cyprinodon nevadensis is a species of pupfish in the genus Cyprinodon. The species is also known as the Amargosa pupfish, but that name may also refer to one subspecies, Cyprinodon nevadensis amargosae. All six subspecies are or were endemic to very isolated locations in the Mojave Desert of California and Nevada.
Mentzelia leucophylla, known by the common name Ash Meadows blazingstar, is a rare species of flowering plant in the Loasaceae. It is endemic to southwestern Nevada, in the Western United States.
Ambrysus amargosus, the Ash Meadows naucorid, is a small insect of the Naucoridae family. They were first identified by Ira La Rivers in 1953. They live in the waters of Point of Rocks Springs, in the east-central region of Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Nye County, Nevada. Because of changes to their habitat, this species lives only in a few small stream channels. Scientific over-collection and introduced predatory fish are the main threats to these insects. They are the first species to be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). They are also currently protected under the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge (NWR)
Potentilla basaltica is a species of flowering plant in the rose family known by the common names Soldier Meadows cinquefoil and basalt cinquefoil. It is endemic to a small area of the Modoc Plateau and Warner Mountains in northeastern California and northwestern Nevada.
Grindelia fraxinipratensis, common name Ash Meadows gumweed, is a North American species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It is native to the southwestern United States, in Mojave Desert regions in Nye County in Nevada and Inyo County in California. Some of the Nevada populations lie inside the Nevada Test Site of the United States Atomic Energy Commission
