Chinese Camp Brodieae
See photo info

Sacramento Fish & Wildlife Office

Species Account

CHINESE CAMP BRODIAEA
(Brodiaea pallida)

CLASSIFICATION: Federal Threatened Species (Federal Register 63:49022 (pdf); September 14, 1998)

CRITICAL HABITAT: None designated

RECOVERY PLAN: Southern Sierran Foothills plants (under development).

DESCRIPTION:

Chinese camp brodiaea (Brodiaea pallida) is an erect, fleshy perennial plant belonging to the lily family (Liliaceae). The top part of the plant has narrow, thick, succulent leaves that reach 4-12 inches in height.

Leafless stems with several to many rose-pink flowers appear from late May to early June. The flowers do not last very long and the entire above ground plant dies by the end of summer.

Chinese Camp brodiaea grows with two other brodiaeas and freely hybridizes with one of them. It can be separated from other brodiaeas by flower color and length, width, shape, and position of nonpollen bearing male flower parts.  See Hickman (1993) in General Information about California Plants, below, for a detailed description of Chinese Camp brodiaea and similar species.

DISTRIBUTION:

Chinese Camp brodiaea grows in seeps and springs in serpentine and volcanic soils in the central California Sierra foothills. The California Natural Diversity Database lists two extant populations, one each in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties.

THREATS:

The wet, serpentine habitat of this plant is very rare. It is threatened by urban development, inadequate regulatory mechanisms, the small range of the species and the small number of populations. Both known populations are on private land.

STATE & CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY STATUS:

The species was listed as endangered by the California Department of Fish and Game in November 1978. The California Native Plant Society has placed it on List 1B (rare or endangered throughout its range). 

REFERENCES FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Niehaus, F.H. 1971. A Biosystematic Study of the Genus Brodiaea (Amaryllidaceae). Univ. of Calif. Press.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. 1998. Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Determination of Threatened Status for Four Plants From the Foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. Portland, Oregon.

General Information about California Plants

Credits: Photo, Chinese Camp brodiaea © John Game Calphoto ID: 8251 3201 1721 0063

Prepared by Endangered Species Div., Sacramento Fish & Wildlife Office, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

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