''Lupinus nipomensis'' is a species of

lupin ''Lupinus'', commonly known as lupin, lupine, or regionally bluebonnet etc., is a genus of plants in the legume family Fabaceae. The genus includes over 199 species, with centers of diversity in North and South America. Smaller centers occur ...

e known by the common name Nipomo Mesa lupine. 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 ...

to the

Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes is the largest remaining dune system south of San Francisco and the second largest in the U.S. state of California. It encompasses an stretch of coastline on the Central Coast of California and extends from southern San L ...

on the

California Central Coast The Central Coast is an area of California, roughly spanning the coastal region between Point Mugu and Monterey Bay. It lies northwest of Los Angeles County and south of San Mateo County, San Mateo and Santa Clara County, Santa Clara counties, ...

. Specifically, the plant is limited to the Guadalupe Dunes at the southern border of

San Luis Obispo County San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo. Junípero Serra founded the Mission ...

. There are five to seven colonies growing in a strip of

sand dunes A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...

measuring less than three square miles in area. These colonies are generally considered to make up a single population.USFWS
Final Rule for Endangered Status for Four Plants from South Central Coastal California
''Federal Register'' March 20, 2000. The number of individual plants remaining has been observed to vary between 100 and 1,800, its abundance is not correlated to precipitation, is highly variable and exact mechanisms driving abundance unknown. This is a California state and 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 ...

. Nipomo Mesa lupine is a small, spreading annual herb with a stem reaching 10 to 50 centimeters in length. Each palmate leaf is made up of 5 to 7 narrow, succulent leaflets between 1 and 1.5 centimeters long and just a few millimeters wide. The herbage is hairy in texture, but can sometimes be glaborous and new stems emerge in equidistant sets of threes. When first emerging the seedlings have a reddish/purple hue from

anthocyanin Anthocyanins (), also called anthocyans, are water-soluble vacuolar pigments that, depending on their pH, may appear red, purple, blue, or black. In 1835, the German pharmacist Ludwig Clamor Marquart gave the name Anthokyan to a chemical compo ...

to help reduce

ultraviolet Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nanometer, nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 Hertz, PHz) to 400 nm (750 Hertz, THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than ...

damage. 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 small, crowded

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

of flowers each 6 to 7 millimeters long. The flower is pink with a lighter, sometimes yellowish spot on its banner. The fruit is a

legume A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock f ...

pod up to 2 centimeters long. No traditional pollinators have been found to be associated with this plant - however, it does host a diverse suite of other

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

interactions. Notably, they are visited by ''

Trigonoscuta ''Trigonoscuta'' is a genus of broad-nosed weevils in the family of beetles known as Curculionidae. There are at least 60 described species in ''Trigonoscuta''. Species These 67 species belong to the genus ''Trigonoscuta'': * '' Trigonoscuta a ...

'' (Sand weevil) species which are potentially rare and endemic to sand dunes. It was found that they are negatively impacted by, a gall maggot from the family

Anthomyiidae The Anthomyiidae are a large and diverse family of Muscoidea flies. Most look rather like small houseflies, but are commonly drab grey. The genus ''Anthomyia'', in contrast, is generally conspicuously patterned in black-and-white or black-and- ...

, ''Delia lupini''. ''D. lupini'' creates

gall Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants, fungi, or animals. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to be ...

s on the plant and when vacated, have been observed to host other pests such as ''Scaphomorphus'' beetles.

Conservation

This plant is restricted to a small system of sand dunes all located on privately owned land. The biggest threats to its existence include

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

of plants, particularly perennial veldtgrass (''Ehrharta calycina''), and

herbivory A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

Botta's pocket gopher Botta's pocket gopher (''Thomomys bottae'') is a pocket gopher native to western North America. It is also known in some sources as valley pocket gopher, particularly in California. Both the specific and common names of this species honor Paul-É ...

(''Thomomys bottae''). They also face increased decrease in habitat due to land use change causing habitat conversion or

habitat fragmentation Habitat fragmentation describes the emergence of discontinuities (fragmentation) in an organism's preferred environment (habitat), causing population fragmentation and ecosystem decay. Causes of habitat fragmentation include geological processes ...

. Recent studies have found that they have specific microhabitat preferences, overlooked in the past, that could be utilized to improve conservation efforts. More specifically, the species often preferred less exposed microhabitats such as dune swales and north facing slopes. Scientists and stakeholders are drafting plans to save the lupine from extinction.

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto galleryA magical place: Women in Wildlife scientists partner to save critically endangered Nipomo Mesa lupine and last of California’s dunes
at USFWS, May 22, 2020 {{- nipomensis Endemic flora of California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of San Luis Obispo County, California