Pennell's Bird's-Beak
See photo info

Sacramento Fish & Wildlife Office

Species Account

PENNELL'S BIRD'S-BEAK
(Cordylanthus tenuis ssp. capillaris)

CLASSIFICATION: Federal Endangered Species (Federal Register  60:6671  (pdf); February 3, 1995).

CRITICAL HABITAT: None designated.

RECOVERY PLAN: Recovery Plan for Serpentine Soil Species of the San Francisco Bay Area, September 30, 1998 (pdf format)

DESCRIPTION:

Pennell's bird's-beak (Cordylanthus tenuis ssp. capillaris) is a herbaceous annual plant in the snapdragon family (Scrophulariaceae). The plant grows 12-16 inches tall, with yellow-green hairless leaves and stems that becomes purplish with age. The leaves on the primary stem are three-parted. Otherwise, the leaves are threadlike with unlobed smooth edges. The species is partially parasitic. It has photosynthetic leaves but forms root attachments to shrubs and possibly cypress trees.

Pennell's bird's-beak flowers from June to July. The floral bracts are three-parted up to two-thirds of their length, with fine marginal hairs on bracts and calyx. The tubular corolla is about one half inch long and garnet-brown on its sides, paler underneath. Each capsule contains 10-16 seeds.

The three-lobed outer bracts of Pennell's bird's-beak distinguish it from its nearest relative--serpentine bird's-beak (Cordylanthus  tenuis ssp. brunneus) and from hairy bird's-beak (C. pilosus), another Cordylanthus found in the area. The latter species is densely hairy throughout, as its name implies. See Hickman (1993) in General Information about California Plants, below, for a detailed description of these and similar species. Other endangered bird's beaks of Northern California include the palmate-bracted bird's-beak and the soft bird's-beak.

DISTRIBUTION:

Pennell's bird's-beak brows on serpentine soil flats within chaparral. It is known only from two locations in western Sonoma County, California. A third population may occur on property adjacent to one of the locations, but permission for botanical surveys on that property has been refused consistently. The total number of plants fluctuates from year to year, as is typical of annual plants.

Serpentine soils are formed from weathered volcanic (ultramafic) rocks such as serpentinite. dunite, and peridotite. These soils provide a harsh environment for plant growth. Several factors contribute to the inhospitability of serpentine soils to plant growth including: 1) a low calcium-magnesium ratio; 2) lack of essential nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous; and 3) high concentrations of heavy metals (mineral toxicity). However, species such as Pennell's bird's-beak have adapted to serpentine soils and require them to survive.

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Pennell's bird's-beak is threatened by potential residential development, timber harvest activities, garbage dumping, slope erosion, off-road vehicle use and roadside maintenance. 

This species was listed as rare 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:

Bacigalupi, R. 1966. A correction for the type locality of Cordylanthus capillaris Penn. Leafl. W. Bot. 10:287-288.

Chuang, T.I. and L.R. Heckard. 1975. Re-evaluation of bract morphology in taxonomy of Cordylanthus (Scrophulariaceae). Madroño 23(4):169-173.

Chuang, T.I. and L.R. Heckard. 1986. Systematics and evolution of Cordylanthus (Scrophulariaceae-Pedicularieae). Systematic Botany Monographs Vol. 10.

Pennell, F.W. 1950. Cordylanthus capillaris, a new bird's-beak (Scrophulariaceae) from California. Notulae Naturae 223:1-2.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1995. Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Determination of Endangered Status for Ten Plants and Threatened Status for Two Plants From Serpentine Habitats in the San Francisco Bay Region of California. Portland, Oregon.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1998.  Recovery Plan for Serpentine Soil Species of the San Francisco Bay Area. Portland, Oregon.

General Information about California Plants

Photo credit: Pennell's Bird's-Beak by S.P.Rae

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

Contact us: Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office, 2800 Cottage Way, Room W-2605, Sacramento, California 95825 Phone (916) 414-6600 ~ FAX (916) 414-6713 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a part of the United States Government Department of Interior Many documents on our web site are published using Adobe's® Portable Document Format (PDF). To display or print these documents, you must use the Acrobat® reader, which you can download free at Acrobat® Reader. Privacy and Security, Disclaimer, Copyright and Technology Requirements Webmaster fw1sacweb@fws.gov (To comment on specific issues see our comment page.) is the U.S. Government Search Engine Regulations.gov - Federal web site that makes it easier for you to participate in Federal rulemaking. On this site, you can find, review, and submit comments on Federal documents that are open for comment and published in the Federal Register, the Government's legal newspaper.

Students! Career-related training and employment. Protect and conserve fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats. Vacation, holiday and sick leave. Your student job could lead to a career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Check out the national Student Job page.