Pine Hill Flannelbush
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Sacramento Fish & Wildlife Office

Species Account

PINE HILL FLANNELBUSH
(Fremontodendron californicum ssp. decumbens)

CLASSIFICATION: Federal Endangered Species (Federal Register 61:54346  pdf; October 18, 1996)

CRITICAL HABITAT:  None designated.

RECOVERY PLAN:  Recovery Plan for Gabbro Soil Plants of the Central Sierra Foothills. 2002

DESCRIPTION:

Pine Hill flannelbush (Fremontodendron californicum ssp. decumbens), also known as Pine Hill fremontia, is a branched spreading shrub of the cacao family (Sterculiaceae) growing to 4 feet tall. Dense star-shaped hairs cover the leaves and the younger twigs and branchlets. The leaves are shallowly or deeply lobed with five to seven lobes. The lobes are palmate. In other words, they look roughly like your hand, with the lobes corresponding to your fingers.

Showy light-orange to reddish-brown flowers appear from late April to early July. Flowers are pollinated by solitary bees and seeds are dispersed by harvester ants. The fruit is a capsule.

Pine Hill flannelbush can be distinguished from California flannelbush (Fremontodendron californicum ssp. californicum) and Mexican flannelbush (F. mexicanum) by the way it spreads on the ground, its relatively long floral stalks (peduncles) and its copper-orange flowers. See Hickman (1993) for a detailed description of these species.

DISTRIBUTION:

Pine Hill flannelbush grows on scattered rocky outcrops either in chaparral or in the transitional zone between woodland and chaparral. The subspecies depends on fire to promote seed germination. The only known location is near Pine Hill in western El Dorado County. Plants are scattered within an area of approximately 5,000 acres. There are reports of small scattered populations in Yuba and Nevada County, but other reports describe these as California flannelbush.

Pine Hill flannelbush is restricted to gabbro soils. Gabbro soils originate from volcanic rocks (gabbrodiorite) that are mildly acidic, rich in iron and magnesium, and often contain other heavy metals such as chromium. Gabbro, a dark large-crystalled rock, is formed when liquid magma cools slowly underground. A red soil is formed when the rock is exposed and weathers at the earth's surface. These soils are well-drained and are underlain by gabbrodiorite rocks at a depth of more than 3 feet. 

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Most of the plants are on the Pine Hill Ecological Reserve, which is managed by the California Department Fish and Game. The proximity of this reserve to human population centers renders it vulnerable to the long-term effects of fire suppression. Restricted distribution increases the subspecies' susceptibility to catastrophic events such as disease or pest outbreak, severe drought or other natural or human-caused disasters. Loss of habitat, fragmentation and alteration of natural ecosystem processes have resulted from residential and commercial development. Housing and commercial development, road maintenance, grading, change in fire frequency, unauthorized dumping, off-road vehicle use, some grazing practices, herbicide spraying, mining, competition from invasive nonnative vegetation, and other human-caused conditions threaten the remaining plants.

This species was listed as rare by the California Department of Fish and Game in July 1979, under the scientific name Fremontodendron decumbens. The California Native Plant Society has placed it on List 1B (rare or endangered throughout its range), also under this scientific name.

Learn more about protection efforts by the Pine Hill Preserve.

REFERENCES FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Boyd, R. S. 1996. Ant mediated seed dispersal of the rare chaparral shrub Fremontodendron decumbens (Sterculiaceae). Madroño 43:299-315.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. 1996. Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Determination of Endangered Status for Four Plants and Threatened Status for One Plant From the Central Sierran Foothills of California. Portland, Oregon.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2002. Recovery Plan for Gabbro Soil Plants of the Central Sierra Nevada Foothills. Portland, Oregon.

General Information about California Plants

Photo credit: Pine Hill Flannelbush by Douglas Barbe, California Dept. of Food & Agriculture, Botany Lab © 2001 CDFA Calphoto ID: 0175 3301 2284 0025

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

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