''Streptanthus fenestratus'' is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the

mustard family Brassicaceae () or (the older) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some are shrubs. The le ...

known by the common name

Tehipite Valley Tehipite Valley, a glacial valley of the Middle Fork Kings River, is located in Kings Canyon National Park in the Sierra Nevada of California. The valley is in Fresno County about southwest of Bishop and east of Fresno and is known for its Yo ...

jewelflower.

Distribution

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 ...

Fresno County, California Fresno County (), officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most populous city in Cali ...

, where it is known only from the high mountain peaks of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

Kings Canyon National Park Kings Canyon National Park is an American national park in the southern Sierra Nevada, in Fresno and Tulare Counties, California. Originally established in 1890 as General Grant National Park, the park was greatly expanded and renamed to Kings ...

. It grows in

coniferous forests Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All exta ...

. There are about ten populations.The Nature Conservancy
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Description

''Streptanthus fenestratus'' is an annual herb producing a hairless, waxy stem up 35 or 40 centimeters in maximum height. The basal leaves have blades divided into several lobes or leaflets. Leaves higher on the stem have oval or lance-shaped blades usually not subdivided. Flowers occur at intervals along the upper stem with one or two leaflike green or purple-tipped

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 at the base of the

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 ...

. Each flower has a tubular urn-shaped calyx of purple

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s just under a centimeter long. Light petals up to 1.5 centimeters long emerge from the tip of the calyx. The fruit is a flat, narrow

silique A silique or siliqua (plural ''siliques'' or ''siliquae'') is a type of fruit (seed capsule) having two fused carpels with the length being more than three times the width. When the length is less than three times the width of the dried fruit i ...

up to 5 centimeters long. One of the main threats to this species is trampling by

hikers Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment - Streptanthus fenestratus''Streptanthus fenestratus'' - Photo gallery
fenestratus Endemic flora of California Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of Fresno County, California {{Brassicales-stub