Sonoma Spineflower
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Sacramento Fish & Wildlife Office
Species Account
SONOMA SPINEFLOWER
(Chorizanthe valida)
CLASSIFICATION: Federal Endangered Species (Federal Register 57:27848; June 22, 1992)
CRITICAL HABITAT: None designated.
RECOVERY PLAN: Recovery Plan for Seven Coastal Plants and the Myrtle’s Silverspot Butterfly (pdf). September 30, 1998.
DESCRIPTION:
Sonoma spineflower (Chorizanthe valida) is an ascending or erect annual herb in the buckwheat family (Polygonaceae). It grows up to one foot tall and has highly branched slender soft-hairy stems. The small (< 1-inch) leaves are egg-shaped, with the widest part at the tip of the leaf.
Flowers bloom from June to August. Conspicuous spiny red and white bracts (stiff scaly or leaf-like appendages) are associated with the flowers, which are clustered at the ends of stems in spiny masses. The inconspicuous flowers are less than 1/3 inch long and have six white to rose petal-like appendages which are unequal in size.
Sonoma spineflower is very similar in overall appearance to the endangered Howell's spineflower (Chorizanthe howellii), which grows in coastal dunes north of Fort Bragg in Mendocino County, and is closely related to the threatened Monterey spineflower (C. pungens var. pungens), which grows from the Monterey Peninsula to Santa Cruz County, and the Ben Lomond spineflower (C. p. var. hartwegiana), which grows in Santa Cruz County. See Hickman (1993) in General Information about California Plants below.
Plants associated with Sonoma spineflower include two species of concern–Point Reyes horkelia (Horkelia marinensis) and Gairdner's yampah (Perideridia gairdneri ssp. gairdneri). Other associated species include coyote brush (Baccharis pilularis), large-flowered linanthus or desert trumpets (Linanthus grandiflorus) and several annual grasses.
DISTRIBUTION:
The only extant populations are in the Point Reyes National Seashore. A naturally occuring population is in the Lunny pasture by Abbott's Lagoon. Two introduced populations are north of Creamery Bay. The Lundy population fluctuates annually, but distribution has remained local, covering around 300,000 square feet. It is estimated that from 10,000 to 30,000 individual plants grow in any given year. The historic range may have included Sonoma County as well as Marin.
SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS:
The rarity of Sonoma spineflower makes it exceptionally vulnerable to disturbances such as invasive nonnative species.
This species was listed as endangered by the California Department of Fish and Game in January 1990. The California Native Plant Society has placed it on List 1B (rare or endangered throughout its range).
REFERENCES FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Fremontia 18(1):17-18 (1990)
Madroño 39 (4):271-280 (1992)
Phytologia 66(2):132-134 (1989)
Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 12:271 (1877)
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. 1992. Final rule: Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Six plants and Myrtle's Silverspot Butterfly from Coastal Dunes in Northern and Central California Determined to be Endangered. Portland, Oregon.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. 1998. Recovery Plan for Seven Coastal Plants and the Myrtle's Silverspot Butterfly (pdf). Portland, OR.
General Information about California Plants
Photo credit: Sonoma Spineflower © 2003 Brad Kelley Calphoto ID: 0000 0000 0703 0094
Prepared by Endangered
Species Div., Sacramento Fish & Wildlife
Office, U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service
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