Toxicoscordion fontanum

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Small-flower death camas
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Liliales
Family: Melanthiaceae
Genus: Toxicoscordion
Species:
T. fontanum
Binomial name
Toxicoscordion fontanum
(Eastw.) Zomlefer & Judd
Synonyms [1] [2]
  • Zigadenus fontanusEastw.
  • Zygadenus fontanusEastw., alternate spelling
  • Zigadenus micranthus var. fontanus(Eastw.) O.S. Walsh ex McNeal

Toxicoscordion fontanum, common name small-flower death camas, is a rare plant species known only from serpentine marshes in California. It is found primarily in the Coast Ranges from Mendocino County to San Luis Obispo County, with an additional report of an isolated population in the Sierra Nevada foothills in Kern County east of Bakersfield. [3] [4]

Contents

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, sometimes with as many as 100 flowers. Tepals are cream-colored, up to 12 mm (0.5 inches) long; filaments shorter than the tepals. [5] [6] [7] [8]

Toxicity

As with many other species formerly included in Zigadenus, this species is highly toxic and potentially lethal to humans and to livestock. [9] 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. [10] [11]

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 California, Oregon, and elsewhere. Metamorphic rocks such as serpentinite 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. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melanthieae</span> Tribe of flowering plants

Melanthieae is a tribe of flowering plants within the family Melanthiaceae. Molecular phylogenetic studies in the 21st century have resulted in a large-scale reassignment of many of its species to different genera; in particular the genus Zigadenus (deathcamases) has been restricted to a single species, Zigadenus glaberrimus. Plants contain alkaloids, making them unpalatable to grazing animals; many are very poisonous to both animals and humans.

<i>Camassia quamash</i> Species of flowering plant

Camassia quamash, commonly known as camas, small camas, common camas, common camash or quamash, is a perennial herb. It is native to western North America in large areas of southern Canada and the northwestern United States.

<i>Amianthium</i> Genus of plants

Amianthium is a North American genus of perennial plants growing from bulbs. It contains the single known species Amianthium muscitoxicum, known in English as fly poison from a literal translation of the Latin epithet muscitoxicum, and is noted for its pretty flowers and its toxic alkaloid content. While all parts of the plant are poisonous, the bulb is particularly toxic. The scientific epithet was given to it by Thomas Walter when he published his Flora Caroliniana in 1788.

<i>Toxicoscordion venenosum</i> Western North American flowering plant in the bunchflower family

Toxicoscordion venenosum, with the common names death camas and meadow death camas, is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. It is named for its well known toxic qualities with its common names and scientific name referencing this. Because its nectar is also poisonous, it is mainly pollinated by the death camas miner bee, which specializes collecting the toxic pollen for its young. It is native to western North America from New Mexico to Saskatchewan and west to the Pacific Ocean.

Deathcamas or death camas refers to several species of flowering plant in the tribe Melanthieae. The name alludes to the great similarity of appearance between these toxic plants, which were formerly classified together in the genus Zigadenus, and the edible camases (Camassia), with which they also often share habitat. Other common names for these plants include deadly zigadene, hog potato and mystery-grass.

<i>Allium crispum</i> Species of flowering plant

Allium crispum is a species of wild onion known by the common name crinkled onion. It is endemic to California, where it grows along the Central Coast in the Coast Ranges and in the Santa Monica Mountains, often in clays and serpentine soils. It is a perennial herb that is typically found in the foothill woodlands and valley grasslands of California.

<i>Allium falcifolium</i> Species of flowering plant

Allium falcifolium is a North American species of wild onion known by the common name scytheleaf onion or coast flatstem onion. It is native to northern California and southern Oregon, where it grows in heavy, rocky soils, especially serpentine soils.

<i>Allium nevadense</i> Species of flowering plant

Allium nevadense is a species of wild onion known by the common name Nevada onion. It is native to the western United States where it grows in sand and rocky soil at elevations of 1400–1700 m. The species is widespread in Utah, Nevada and southern Idaho, and has been reported also from southeastern California, northwestern Arizona, western and central Colorado and eastern Oregon.

<i>Toxicoscordion micranthum</i> Species of flowering plant

Toxicoscordion micranthum, the smallflower deathcamas, is a flowering plant in the genus Toxicoscordion. It is native to Oregon and California, primarily in the Coast Ranges from Douglas County to Napa and Sonoma Counties, with isolated populations in Lassen, Plumas, Santa Clara, and San Benito Counties. It is a member of the serpentine soils flora.

<i>Allium tuolumnense</i> Species of flowering plant

Allium tuolumnense is a rare species of wild onion, known by the common name Rawhide Hill onion.

<i>Allium sanbornii</i> Species of flowering plant

Allium sanbornii is a North American species of wild onion known by the common name Sanborn's onion. It is native to northern California and southwestern Oregon. It grows in the serpentine soils of the southern Cascade Range and northern Sierra Nevada foothills.

<i>Allium siskiyouense</i> Species of flowering plant

Allium siskiyouense is a North American species of wild onion known by the common name Siskiyou onion. It is native to the Klamath Mountains and nearby ranges of northern California and Oregon. It grows in serpentine and other rocky soil types.

<i>Anticlea</i> (plant) Genus of flowering plants

Anticlea is a genus of flowering plants in the family Melanthiaceae, tribe Melanthieae. Molecular phylogenetic studies in the 21st century have resulted in number of changes to placements within this tribe. Anticlea was long submerged into the genus Zigadenus; however its separate position has been confirmed. Some species were also moved from Stenanthium into Anticlea. Members of Anticlea may also be distinguished from other members of the former genus Zigadenus, the deathcamases, by the presence of narrow tepals with a single, conspicuous, bilobed gland. It also has a wider distribution, occurring in Asia and much of North and Central America, ranging south to Guatemala.

<i>Toxicoscordion</i> Genus of plants

Toxicoscordion is a genus of flowering plants in the family Melanthiaceae, tribe Melanthieae, first described as a genus in 1903. The genus is mainly distributed in the midwestern United States and western North America, with some species in western Canada and northern Mexico.

<i>Zigadenus</i> Genus of plants

Zigadenus is a genus of flowering plants now containing only one species, Zigadenus glaberrimus, the sandbog death camas, found in the southeastern United States from Mississippi to Virginia. Around 20 species were formerly included in the genus, but have now been moved to other genera.

Toxicoscordion brevibracteatum is a species of flowering plant known by the common name desert deathcamas. It is native to Baja California, Sonora, and California, where it grows in sandy desert habitat among creosote and Joshua trees.

<i>Toxicoscordion paniculatum</i> Species of plant

Toxicoscordion paniculatum is a species of flowering plant known by the common names foothill deathcamas, panicled death-camas, and sand-corn. It is widely distributed across much of the western United States, especially in the mountains and deserts of the Great Basin region west of the Rocky Mountains. It grows in many types of habitats, including sagebrush plateau, grasslands, forests, and woodlands, etc.

<i>Allium bisceptrum</i> Species of flowering plant

Allium bisceptrum, also known as the twincrest onion or aspen onion, is a high elevation plant native to western United States. It is a perennial that thrives under damp and shady conditions or open meadows in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Utah.

<i>Toxicoscordion nuttallii</i> Species of plant

Toxicoscordion nuttallii is a species of poisonous plant native to the south-central part of the United States.

Allium sharsmithiae, called the Mount Hamilton onion or Helen Sharsmith's onion, is a rare species of wild onion endemic to a small region in California. It is found on serpentine soils in the vicinity of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range south of San Francisco Bay in Santa Clara, Alameda and Stanislaus Counties.

References

  1. Tropicos
  2. The Plant List
  3. Flora of North America v 26 p 85.
  4. Calflora taxon report, Toxicoscordion fontanum (Eastw.) Zomlefer & Judd, marsh zigadenus
  5. Zomlefer, Wendy B., & Judd, Walter Stephen. 2002. Resurrection of segregates of the polyphyletic genus Zigadenus s.l. (Liliales: Melanthisaceae) and resulting new combinations. Novon 12(2):299-308.
  6. Eastwood, Alice. 1937. Zygadenus fontanus: a new species from Mt. Tamalpais. Leaflets of Western Botany 2(3): 41–42.
  7. McNeal, Dale W. 1992. New taxa and new combinations in western North American Liliaceae. Phytologia 73(4): 307-311
  8. Munz, P. A. & D. D. Keck. 1959. California Flora 1–1681. University of California Press, Berkeley.
  9. Heilpern, K. L. (1995). "Zigadenus poisoning". Annals of Emergency Medicine. 25 (2): 259–262. doi:10.1016/S0196-0644(95)70336-5. PMID   7832360.
  10. Death Camas and Wild Onion
  11. El Zorro Colorado, Death Camas
  12. 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. ISBN   0-19-516508-X.