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San Clemente Island Woodland Star

Lithophragma maximum

Lithophragma maximum, known by the common name San Clemente Island woodland star, is a rare species of flowering plant in the saxifrage family. It is endemic to San Clemente Island, one of the eight Channel Islands of California. It is known from only about four kilometers of rocky coastal cliffs on the edge of the island. The plant was thought to be extinct until a few specimens were rediscovered in 1979. Only 200 individuals were tallied in a 1996 survey. In 1997 the plant was listed as an endangered species on the federal level. Lithophragma maximum is a rhizomatous perennial herb growing erect or leaning with a slender naked flowering stem. The leaves are located on the lower part of the stem, each divided into three sharply toothed leaflets. The stem bears up to 25 flowers, each in a cuplike calyx of red or green sepals. The five petals are white or pink-tinged, approximately 4 millimeters long, and usually divided into about five pointed lobes. As of 2000 there were over 400 individuals remaining, but about one fourth of these are located in one canyon. All of the plants grow on land owned and tended by the United States Navy. The two main threats to the species have been erosion of the local habitat and the presence of feral goats and pigs. The latter issue was resolved when the Navy removed the feral herbivores. A genetic analysis revealed a relatively high genetic diversity across populations of this woodland star, probably due to the isolation of the populations from each other in the rugged, steep habitat. This suggests that it is important to protect each population in order to conserve the genetic variance in each.

San Nicolas Island Lomatium

Lomatium insulare

Lomatium is a genus of about 75 species of perennial herbs native to western North America. In the Apiaceae family and related to many edible species such as carrots and celery, it is also edible. The common names for it are biscuitroot, Indian parsley, and desert parsley, and was extensively used by Indians in the inland northwest as a staple food. Roots range from woody taproots to more fleshy underground tuberous-thickened roots. Most lomatiums are desert species or grow on bluffs where water is limited for most of the year. They are green and grow the most during the spring when water is available, then set seed and dry out completely above ground before the hottest part of the year, while storing the energy they gained from photosynthesizing while water was available to them in their deep roots. For most of the year, the plant is not visible; the brown tops often are blown off or easily crushed, but it lies dormant underground for the next spring. The flowers are arranged in compound umbels, without involucral bracts (or with inconspicuous bracts). The flowers are white or yellow, more rarely a purple or maroon color. As with most Apiaceae, the fruit sets the genus apart from other yellow- or white-flowered look-alikes such as Cymopterus and Oreogenia. Uniquely, they are dorsally flattened and winged, which can be papery or corky, but help the seed to disperse further on the wind. The dorsal ribs may or may not be on the fruit, but are narrowly winged if at all. Leaves are mainly basal and dissected (ternately, pinnately, or ternate-pinnately dissected or compound), many look like ferns or can be mistaken them. Ecology. It grows in a variety of habitats throughout western North America, from coastal bluffs to piles of basalt rock.

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