Chinese Camp Brodiaea

Brodiaea pallida

Description

Chinese Camp brodiaea, Brodiaea pallida, is an erect, herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the lily family (Liliaceae). Chinese Camp brodiaea grows from underground bulbs to a height of 4-12 in (10.2-30.5 cm), and has long, narrow, thick, succulent leaves. Several to many rose-pink flowers appear in an umbrellalike cluster at the top of a leafless stem in late May to early June. Chinese Camp brodiaea grows in association with, and can hybridize with, B. elegans ssp. elegans. Chinese Camp brodiaea can be distinguished from B. elegans ssp. elegans by the corolla, which differs in color and is constricted midway to form a strongly recurved waist, and by the nonpollen bearing stamens (staminodia) being held close.

Habitat

Chinese Camp brodiaea grows in overflow channels and seeps and springs in clays derived from serpentine soils. The entire range of Chinese Camp brodiaea is 10-20 ft (3-6 m) wide by 0.5 mi (0.8 km) long, stretching along an intermittent stream channel at an elevation of 1,260 ft (384 m).

Distribution

The entire population of Chinese Camp brodiaea is scattered over an estimated 65 acres (26 hectares), all of which is privately owned. Because of the complex nature of Chinese Camp brodiaea reproduction (spreading via shoots and suckers), the number of individuals in the population is unknown. Despite surveys for this species in other nearby areas, no additional sites were located.

Threats

The sole population is threatened by urbanization and inadequate regulatory mechanisms, however the immediacy of these threats remained stable for over a decade at the end of the twentieth century. This species is also vulnerable to extirpation from random events due to its small range.

Historically, the only known population of Chinese Camp brodiaea extended up to 1 mi (1.6 km) south of the Red Hills Road; however, large parts of the population were destroyed by nonpermitted construction in the early 1980s. A housing subdivision was proposed for the remainder of the site, which threatened to divide some of the population into 5-acre (2-hectare) parcels and to impact approximately one-half of all the known individual plants. All construction activity believed to threaten Chinese Camp brodiaea was halted after 1989 at the proposed subdivision, and no further construction activity was planned at the site where the species occurs.

Conservation and Recovery

The area of occupied habitat is very small, and any adverse modification threatens to jeopardize the continued existence of Chinese Camp brodiaea. Construction in the area is the primary threat, and listing this species requires that any permitted construction must proceed under a plan to conserve the species.

Contact

U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Regional Office, Division of Endangered Species
Eastside Federal Complex
911 N. E. 11th Ave.
Portland, Oregon 97232-4181
Telephone: (503) 231-6121
http://pacific.fws.gov/

Reference

U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 14 September 1998. "Determination of Threatened Status for Four Plants From the Foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California." Federal Register 63 (177): 49022-49035.