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''Eriogonum truncatum'', the Mount Diablo buckwheat, is a small pink
wildflower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant probably is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is in any way different from the w ...
, believed to have been extinct since 1936 until its rediscovery in 2005. The species is only known to live on
Mount Diablo Mount Diablo is a mountain of the Diablo Range, in Contra Costa County, California, Contra Costa County of the eastern San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. It is south of Clayton, California, Clayton and northeast of Danville, Califo ...
in
Contra Costa County ) of the San Francisco Bay , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = California , subdivision_type2 ...
, northern
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
.


Habitat

It has been found on the edge of
chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...
but may be a refugee there, squeezed out of more open areas by exotics. Since its rediscovery seeds have been collected for controlled propagation and preservation.


Description

Mt. Diablo buckwheat is an
annual plant An annual plant is a plant that completes its life cycle, from germination to the production of seeds, within one growing season, and then dies. The length of growing seasons and period in which they take place vary according to geographical ...
growing between high. It blooms with several dozen pinkish flowers, having a maroon line down the center of each petal. The flower stalks branch upward in a wishbone pattern, with flowers blooming at the joint and ends of the wishbone.


History

The first recorded sighting of Mt. Diablo buckwheat was by
William H. Brewer William Henry Brewer (September 14, 1828 – November 2, 1910) was an American botanist. He worked on the first California Geological Survey and was the first Chair of Agriculture at Yale University's Sheffield Scientific School. Biography Wi ...
, the first Chair of Agriculture at the
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
Sheffield Scientific School Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Joseph E. Sheffield, ...
. He was Principal Assistant for botany on the Josiah Whitney-led California Geological Survey from 1860–1864. Brewer first recorded the Mt. Diablo buckwheat at
John Marsh John Marsh may refer to: Politicians * John Marsh (MP fl. 1394–1397), MP for Bath * John Marsh (MP fl. 1414–1421), MP for Bath *John Allmond Marsh (1894–1952), Canadian Member of Parliament * John Otho Marsh Jr. (1926–2019), American c ...
's
Rancho Los Meganos Rancho or Ranchos may refer to: Settlements and communities *Rancho, Aruba, former fishing village and neighbourhood of Oranjestad *Ranchos of California, 19th century land grants in Alta California **List of California Ranchos *Ranchos, Buenos Ai ...
at the northeast corner of Mt. Diablo, on May 29, 1862. Marsh was the first American settler in Contra Costa County (the present-day
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
East Bay) and a proponent of increased American emigration. Approximately 4,000 acres (16 km²) of the Marsh Ranch have been preserved around Marsh's stone house in the new Cowell Ranch State Park. From 1862–1936 the Mount Diablo buckwheat was found just a handful of times, for a total of seven historic records. In 1936 Mary Leolin Bowerman, a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley and who later co-founded the Save Mount Diablo organization in 1971, recorded the last sighting of Mt. Diablo buckwheat. Bowerman made two of the seven historic records, on opposite sides of Mt. Diablo, Contra Costa County, California during her floristic study between 1930 and 1936. Her 1936 Ph.D. was followed in 1944 by publication of ''The Flowering Plants and Ferns of Mt. Diablo, California''. Much of Mt. Diablo has been preserved in the years since Bowerman's study was completed, as well as areas where other buckwheat records were established. However, the eastern areas of the plant's range are threatened by development pressure. Until 2005 numerous botanical survey trips were unsuccessful in locating the buckwheat.


2005 Rediscovery

On May 10, 2005, Michael Park, a
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
graduate student, was conducting a floristic study on Mt. Diablo. While more thoroughly searching promising areas on the mountain that hadn't gotten enough attention, he realized he was surrounded by early blooming buckwheat. Once he realized that it was Mount Diablo buckwheat he was so shocked that: "I pretended it wasn't there and continued with my other work." A week after the rediscovery, a collaboration of organizations including the California Department of Parks & Recreation, Save Mount Diablo, and the University of California at Berkeley announced the rediscovery of the Mt. Diablo buckwheat. Coming soon after the announcement of the potential rediscovery of the
Ivory-billed woodpecker The ivory-billed woodpecker (''Campephilus principalis'') is a possibly extinct woodpecker that is native to the bottomland hardwood forests and temperate coniferous forests of the Southern United States and Cuba. Habitat destruction and hunting ...
, the news traveled around the world in just a few days and appeared in thousands of media outlets including print, radio and television.


Propagation

Seeds were collected from wild plants in 2005. On June 7, 2006, members of the Mt. Diablo Buckwheat Working Group announced that the plant had survived and increased in the wild and that twelve plants had been propagated at the U.C. Botanical Garden at Berkeley. Seeds were again collected in the wild and from propagated plants in 2006 and 2007. 2006 seed yield from propagated plants included more than 40,000 seeds. 2007 seed yield from propagated plants included more than 145,000 seeds.


Restoration

The plant, an annual wildflower which dies after flowering and which is found at just one site, is still considered critically threatened. In December 2007 the Working Group seeded additional plots near the wild site.


2016 Rediscovery

It was reported in September 2016, that two botanists performing a wildflower survey in May 2016, at the Black Diamond Regional Preserve, a park near Mount Diablo, had unexpectedly found over a million Mount Diablo buckwheat specimens blooming on a hillside inside the preserve. Four organizations collaborated to withhold announcement of the discovery until the specimens had finished blooming and could produce seeds.Cuff, Dennis. "Rare wildflower found." Bay Area News Group. September 8, 2016.] Accessed September 16, 2016.


References


External links


Calflora Database: ''Eriogonum truncatum'' (Mt. Diablo buckwheat) Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment - ''Eriogonum truncatum''
— ''2005 press release''. * ttp://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/05/24_buckwheat.shtml UC Berkeley Media.edu: "Rediscovery of Mount Diablo buckwheat"— ''2005 press release''.
UC Berkeley Media.edu: ''Rare Mt. Diablo Buckwheat Flowers Anew''
— ''2006 press release''.

— ''photos + plants propagation press release''. {{Taxonbar, from=Q3056651 truncatum Endemic flora of California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Mount Diablo Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of Contra Costa County, California Endemic flora of the San Francisco Bay Area Critically endangered flora of California