San Joaquin Adobe Sunburst
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Sacramento Fish & Wildlife Office
Species Account
SAN JOAQUIN ADOBE SUNBURST
(Pseudobahia peirsonii)
CLASSIFICATION: Federal Threatened Species (Federal Register notice 62:5542 pdf; February 6, 1997).
CRITICAL HABITAT: None designated.
RECOVERY PLAN: Southern Sierran Foothills plants (under development).
DESCRIPTION:
San Joaquin adobe sunburst (Pseudobahia peirsonii), also called Tulare pseudobahia, is a slender, woolly annual in the sunflower family (Asteraceae). It grows 4 to18 inches tall and is loosely covered with white, wooly hairs. Its alternate leaves are twice divided into smaller divisions.
Flower heads, which appear in March or April, are solitary at the ends of the branches. The ray flowers are bright yellow and equal in number to the subfloral bracts and about 0.1 inch long with many disk flowers The dry fruits, called achenes, are black.
See Hickman (1993) in General Information about California Plants, below, for a detailed description of the species.
DISTRIBUTION:
San Joaquin adobe sunburst grows in heavy adobe clay soils. These soils may be favored for their ability to hold moisture longer into the summer dry season than other soils. The adobe sunburst grows in grasslands dominated by nonnative annual plants, wild oats (Avena fatua), charlock (Sinapis arvensis), soft chess (Bromus hordeaceus), red brome (Bromus rubens) and redstem stork's bill (Erodium cicutarium). The intrusive and aggressive nature of these species seems detrimental to the San Joaquin adobe sunburst.
San Joaquin adobe sunburst is restricted to the eastern San Joaquin Valley. Historical occurrences were scattered from northern Kern County to Tulare and Fresno counties. Today the species is limited to a few populations in valleys and flats and the foot of the Sierra Nevada. Extant populations are concentrated in three areas: the Round Mountain-Wahtoke area in Fresno County, the Porterville-Visalia region in Tulare County, and the Pine Mountain-Woody region in Kern County.
SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS:
Conversion of natural habitat to residential development is the primary threat to San Joaquin adobe sunburst. In addition, road maintenance projects, recreational activities, competition from nonnative plants, agricultural land development, incompatible grazing practices, a flood control project, transmission line maintenance and other human impacts also may threaten the species.
This species was listed as endangered by the California Department of Fish and Game in January 1987. The California Native Plant Society has placed it on List 1B (rare or endangered throughout its range).
REFERENCES FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. 1997. Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Determination of Endangered Status for "Pseudobahia bahiifolia" (Hartweg's golden sunburst) and Threatened Status for "Pseudobahia peirsonii" (San Joaquin adobe sunburst), Two Grassland Plants From the Central Valley of California. Portland, Oregon.
General Information about California Plants
Photo credit: San Joaquin Adobe Sunburst © 1986 Dean Wm Taylor Calphoto ID: 0000 0000 0801 0476
Prepared by Endangered
Species Div., Sacramento Fish & Wildlife
Office, U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service
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