''Nolina interrata'' is a rare species of flowering plant known by the common names Dehesa nolina and Dehesa beargrass. It is known from about ten occurrences in central
San Diego County, California
San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...
, and fewer than 100 individual plants on land across the border in
Baja California
Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
.
California Native Plant Society Rare Plant Profile
/ref> The plant was first described in 1946 when found at the type locality near El Cajon, California
El Cajon ( , ; Spanish: El Cajón, meaning "the box") is a city in San Diego County, California, United States, east of downtown San Diego. The city takes its name from Rancho El Cajón, which was in turn named for the box-like shape of the va ...
, and all the individuals known in California are located within a six-square-mile area there.[USFWS]
Withdrawal of proposed rule to list ''Nolina interrata'' (Dehesa beargrass) as threatened
''Federal Register'' October 13, 1998. Although rare, numbering about 9,000 plants total in existence, the species is relatively well protected in its habitat and a proposal for federal protected status was withdrawn.[
This plant produces a branching stem, part of which grows underground, lined with rosettes of stiff, waxy, blue-green leaves, up to 45 per rosette. The leaves are thick and somewhat fleshy at the bases, and shreddy and serrated along the edges. The erect ]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 ...
may be up to 1.6 meters tall, bearing branches lined with tiny flowers each with six whitish tepal
A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...
s a few millimeters long. The fruit is a papery capsule containing reddish brown seeds about half a centimeter wide.
References
External links
Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfileFlora of North AmericaPhoto gallery
interrata
Flora of California
Flora of Baja California
Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands
Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges
Natural history of San Diego County, California
San Ysidro Mountains
Endangered biota of Mexico
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