''Amsinckia carinata'' is a species of flowering plant in the

borage family Boraginaceae, the borage or forget-me-not family, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, trees and herbs in 146, to 156 genera with a worldwide distribution. The APG IV system from 2016 classifies the Boraginaceae as single family of the order ...

known by the common name Malheur Valley fiddleneck. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, where it is known only from

Malheur County Malheur County () is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 31,571. Its county seat is Vale, and its largest city is Ontario. The county was named after the Malheur River, which runs thr ...

.''Amsinckia carinata''.
The Nature Conservancy.''Amsinckia carinata''.
Center for Plant Conservation. ''Amsinckia carinata'' is an

annual Annual may refer to: * Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year **Yearbook ** Literary annual * Annual plant * Annual report * Annual giving * Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco * Annuals (b ...

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

growing 10 to 30 centimeters (4-12 inches) tall. It is coated in bristly hairs. The lance-shaped or narrowly oval leaves are up to 8 centimeters (3.2 inches) long and are covered in hairs with pustule-like bases. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a coiled cyme of dark yellow to orange flowers each about a centimeter long. The fruit is a shiny, dark gray nutlet.Nelson, Aven & Macbride, James Francis. 1916. Botanical Gazette 62(2): 145–146
description and commentary in English ''Amsinckia carinata'' was believed to be

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

until 1984, when it was rediscovered. It occurs in the

Malheur River The Malheur River (local pronunciation: "MAL-hyure") is a tributary of the Snake River in eastern Oregon in the United States. It drains a Great Basin Desert, high desert area, between the Harney Basin and the Blue Mountains (Oregon), Blue Moun ...

Valley in eastern Oregon, where it grows on slopes of talus and gravel. It grows alongside the more common ''

Amsinckia tessellata ''Amsinckia tessellata'' is a species of fiddleneck known by the common names bristly fiddleneck, tessellate fiddleneck, checker fiddleneck, and devil's lettuce. The plant is native to dry regions of western North America, more specifically eas ...

'', which replaces it at lower elevations and in less pristine habitat. There are six populations, in less than 12 square miles (30.7 km²) of territory. In the 1990s, some authors came to regard ''A. carinata'' as a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of '' A. vernicosa'', which is not as rare. The consensus now is to consider it a distinct species, but the merge made it less likely that the populations would receive attention as a rare taxon. It grows only on federal land. Mining activity threatens some of the populations. Also, the landscape has been taken over by

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

of plants, such as ''

Bromus tectorum ''Bromus tectorum'', known as downy brome, drooping brome or cheatgrass, is a winter annual grass native to Europe, southwestern Asia, and northern Africa, but has become invasive in many other areas. It now is present in most of Europe, southe ...

'', cheatgrass, a change which has been intensified by cattle grazing in the area.

References

External links

Oregon Department of Agriculture
photos
Center for Plant Conservation
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4748787 carinata Flora of Oregon Endemic flora of the United States Malheur County, Oregon Endangered flora of the United States Plants described in 1916 Taxa named by Aven Nelson Endemic flora of Oregon