''Chorizanthe pungens'' is a species of flowering plant in the
buckwheat family
The Polygonaceae are a family of flowering plants known informally as the knotweed family or smartweed—buckwheat family in the United States. The name is based on the genus ''Polygonum'', and was first used by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in 1789 ...
known by the common name Monterey spineflower. It is
endemic to
California, where it is known from the
San Francisco Bay Area south along the
Central Coast.
Description
It grows mainly in coastal habitat and that of the hills and mountains overlooking the coastline. This is a generally erect but sometimes spreading or prostrate plant with stems up to half a meter in length. It is green to gray to red in color and usually hairy in texture. The leaves are located at the base of the plant; there are also
bract
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...
s along the stem at the bases of the
inflorescences which look like leaves. The inflorescence is a dense cluster of flowers, each flower surrounded by six white to pink hairy bracts tipped in hooked awns. The flower itself is only a few millimeters wide with jagged
tepals.
Varieties
There are two varieties of this species:
*var. ''pungens'' is the more common
*var. ''hartwegiana'' is known only from the
Santa Cruz Mountains
The Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are a mountain range in central and Northern California, United States. They form a ridge down the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco. They separate the Pacific Ocean from ...
north of
Santa Cruz.
[Elkhorn Slough Local Profile]
/ref> This variety, known as the Ben Lomond spineflower, is treated as a federally listed endangered species
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...
. It is found in the same type of unique habitat, known as the Zayante sandhills, as other local rare endemic life forms such as the Ben Lomond wallflower '' Erysimum teretifolium'' and the Zayante band-winged grasshopper ''Trimerotropis infantilis
The Zayante band-winged grasshopper (''Trimerotropis infantilis'') is a species of insect in the family Acrididae. It is endemic to a small portion of the Santa Cruz Mountains in California.
Background and description
The Zayante band-winged gr ...
''.[Santa Cruz Public Libraries Report]
Zayante Sandhills Conservation Bank
/ref> Threats to this plant and other endemic species include the destruction of the local habitat during sand mining.[
]
References
External links
''Chorizanthe pungens''.
Jepson eFlora 2013.
''Chorizanthe pungens''.
CalPhotos.
Further reading
Kluse, J. & D. F. Doak. (1999)
Demographic performance of a rare California endemic, ''Chorizanthe pungens'' var. ''hartwegiana'' (Polygonaceae).
''The American Midland Naturalist'' 142(2):244-56.
pungens
Endemic flora of California
Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands
Natural history of Monterey County, California
Natural history of Santa Cruz County, California
Plants described in 1836
Taxa named by George Bentham
{{Polygonaceae-stub