NEVADA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY
Rare Plant Committee Meeting
NEVADA RARE PLANT WORKSHOP
Wednesday & Thursday, 2-3 April 2008, Reno

2008 FINAL AGENDA
http://heritage.nv.gov/nrpw/agenda08.htm

The chairs reserve the right to prioritize agenda items based on time received, conservation priority, presence of participants with expert knowledge, and/or relevance to other items being discussed, and to curtail lengthy or marginally relevant items, to ensure that the most critical items are addressed. Comments from members and participants on current agenda items can be found on the Member Comments page.

• Review of new 2-day format: repeat in Las Vegas next year, or in 2011? Go back to 1 day? (reassess at beginning of Thursday afternoon session)
• Change to first Monday (& Tuesday) of April when in Las Vegas, to coincide with regular NNPS meeting?
• Las Vegas on Tuesday (& Wednesday), 7(-8) April 2009? Barrick Museum still available?
• Overview of the Agenda, consensus process, etc.
• Out-of-order items (to accommodate schedules or otherwise streamline):
  • Some species may be covered during presentations or discussion of other species.
  • Let chair know of any planned absences or early departures, and any taxa you want covered while present.
  • Presentations: Wednesday after lunch, Thursday morning.
  • Proposed M-List Additions: review entries beforehand; discuss, modify, and approve slate at beginning of Thursday afternoon session.
  • Stale business list: review entries beforehand; contribute any new information or recommendations at beginning of Thursday afternoon session.
  • Requests for out-of-order items?

• Potentilla johnstonii (sagebrush cinquefoil) - long recognized but only recently named as a species distinct from P. concinna (Sojak, J. 2006. Two new American species of Potentilla (Rosaceae). Thaiszia Journal of Botany 16: 93-97). Its most conspicuous distinguishing feature is the tridentate leaflets of each leaf, which look almost exactly like the leaves of sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata, with which it grows), thus the proposed common name. The species is known only from four collections (1945, 1960, 1975, and 2005) at a single locality, Cherry Creek Summit in the Quinn Canyon Range of Nye County at about 7600 ft elevation. NatureServe ranks G1 S1. Add to NNPS Watch List? Recommend for HTNF status?
• Potentilla holmgrenii (Holmgren cinquefoil) - recently recognized as distinct from P. nivea based on plants usually forming dense cushions, basal leaves densely hairy on both surfaces, teeth of central leaflets 2-4, obtuse to round, often overlapping, epicalyx bractlets shorter and narrower than sepals, and styles 1.2 mm long or longer without distinct basal papillae (Murray, D. F. and E. Reidar. 2007. A new species and two new combinations in Potentilla sect. Niveae (Rosaceae). Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas 1: 811-814). See comments from Barbara Ertter. The species is known only from five occurrences in three mountain ranges of White Pine County, Nevada and Juab County, Utah: North Schell Peak and Taft Peak in the Schell Creek Range, Wheeler Peak and Mount Moriah in the Snake Range, and from the Deep Creek Mountains in Utah. NatureServe ranks G2, S2 in NV, S1 in UT. Add to NNPS Watch List? Recommend for HTNF status?
• Penstemon bicolor (twotone beardtongue) - 2006 status report recommends no recognition of varieties, State listing of entire species due to habitat damage and loss (especially for yellow-flowered form), and ongoing hybridization with Palmer penstemon (Penstemon palmeri var. palmeri). Varieties still recognized by Nevada Natural Heritage Program and NatureServe because of differences in geographic, elevation, and habitat ranges correlated with the flower-color difference. Yellow-flowered form (var. bicolor) endemic to Clark County, Nevada, NatureServe ranks G3 T2 S2. Rose-flowered form (var. roseus) ranked G3 T3, S3 in NV, S2 in adjacent AZ, S1.3 in adjacent CA (3 occurrences). Both forms on BLM and USFS Sensitive Species lists, NNPS Watch List, and CNPS List 2.3. Do we concur with State listing recommendation for species or either form? Any other status changes appropriate?
• Boechera (Arabis) nevadensis (Spring Mountains rockcress) - recognized in major revision of Boechera (most former Arabis taxa) for upcoming Flora of North America treatment. Known only from "ledges and talus of limestone cliffs, 3000-3400 m" in the Spring Mountains of Clark and Nye counties. It is distinguished from B. pendulina (with which it forms occasional apomictic triploid hybrids) by being glabrous or with few simple hairs on basal petioles and having winged seeds, from B. demissa by largest fruits 2.3-3.0 mm wide, ovules 52-72 per ovary, and seeds biseriate, and from both by prominently auriculate stem leaves and divaricate (often secund) fruits with nearly straight stalks. Type locality is at head of Lee Canyon at 10,000 ft in 1913, and it has been collected recently near there. Add to NNPS Watch List? Recommend for HTNF status?
• Astragalus lentiginosus var. multiracemosus (Lamoille Terraces milkvetch) - recently described by Stan Welsh (pages 294-295 in North American species of Astragalus Linnaeus (Leguminosae): A taxonomic revision. Marcus E. Jones Endowment Fund, Stanley L. Welsh Herbarium, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. 2007) based on a single collection from a moist seep at about 8500 ft elevation near Terraces Campground in Lamoille Canyon, Ruby Mountains, Elko County, Nevada. This location is surrounded by the type locality of A. lentiginosus var. tremuletorum, which both Welsh and Barneby synonymize under var. scorpionis, from which Welsh in turn distinguishes the new variety. The new variety is distinctive in its prostrate, proliferous branching and flowering habit (much like var. sesquimetralis), with stems up to half a meter long and floriferous from near the base, although both vars. scorpionis and salinus (to the latter of which Welsh considered the new variety most closely related) also often become floriferous from the middle nodes upward. See 2008 comments from Brian Knaus. How confident are we with the taxonomy? Add to NNPS Watch List? Recommend for HTNF status? Wait for field confirmation of a distinctive population in the type area?

• Status of pending listing recommendations: Draba asterophora (Tahoe draba) and Penstemon albomarginatus (white-margined beardtongue) -- see background information alphabetically below. Draba asterophora will be discussed Wednesday afternoon after Emily Smith's presentation.
• Phacelia laxiflora (nodding scorpionflower, =P. perityloides var. laxiflora) - left open by the 2002-2007 Workshops pending further information on its Nevada range. Known only from sheltered, sometimes moist carbonate rock crevices in the Virgin River gorge, Washington Co., Utah, the Grand Canyon of Mohave and Coconino cos., Arizona, and the Virgin Mountains, Clark Co., Nevada. UNLV has a single collection from 2300 m elevation in the Virgin Mountains. Ranked G2G3, S1 in Nevada. Any new information? Add to NNPS Watch or Marginal List?
• Penstemon albomarginatus (white-margined beardtongue) - First recommendation for State listing by 2007 Workshop. Threats to largest Nevada population from upwind airport development and resulting changes in sand transport and accumulation and indirect land use changes in the area, and from possible land use changes in the Jean Lake area. California populations threatened and declining. Currently on the NNPS Threatened List, and BLM Sensitive Species List in NV and CA. NatureServe ranks G2 S2. Final recommendation for State listing? Other status recommendations?.
• Mentzelia inyoensis (Inyo blazingstar) - left open by the 2005-2007 workshops because of unverified reports of populations farther south in the Inyo, Coso, and Argus ranges of California. Described as new to science by Thompson and Prigge in Madroño 51(4): 379-383, 2004. Known from about 4 or 5 locations, mainly in the White Mountains of Esmeralda Co., NV, and Mono and Inyo cos., CA, but with one disjunct occurrence in southeastern Churchill Co., NV. Tentative heritage ranks G2 S1. About as rare as M. tiehmii and M. argillicola, previously added to the NNPS Watch List. Said to differ from M. candelariae by its fall (vs. spring) flowering time, petals 11-18 mm long (vs. 6-10 mm), lower stem leaves more deeply lobed, fruits longer and more narrowly cylindrical on average, and seed coats with 2-6 papillae per cell (vs. 9-15). Said to differ from M. oreophila by the absence of petaloid stamens, fruits 12-16(-25) mm long (vs. 5.5-6.5 mm), and leaves linear-lanceolate and lobed (vs. elliptic to ovate and undulately toothed). Has now been added to CNPS List 1B. Have the Mazourka Canyon, Coso, and Argus populations been collected and verified yet? Add to NNPS Watch or Marginal List? Recommendations for other agency status?
• Helianthus deserticola (desert sunflower) - Left open by the 2006-2007 workshops, to consider dropping pending further data.  Lumped under H. anomalus by Cronquist Intermountain Flora, but still considered distinct by current sunflower researchers, and recognized in the Flora of North America treatment (vol. 21, p. 154, 2006). Known from sw Utah, nw Arizona, s Nevada, and disjunct in west-central Nevada (mainly Churchill Co.) where it could be genetically distinct. Recent observations suggest increasing prevalence of invasive species in the northern Nevada populations. Any new information? Any status changes appropriate at this time?
• Eriogonum mensicola (Pinyon Mesa buckwheat) - Left open by the 2004-2007 Workshops pending verification of its rarity in Nevada (and elsewhere) with UNLV botanists and collections. This distinctive taxon has until recently been synonymized with, or treated as a variety of, Eriogonum panamintense. On the basis of this synonymy, CNPS considered it too common to warrant conservation concern. UNLV has 4 Nevada collections, 3 from the Sheep Range, and 1 from the summit of McCullough Mountain, all at 7000-7700 ft elevation in Clark County. Based on a search of the California Consortium of Herbaria databases, there are about 7 distinct occurrences in the Coso, Cottonwood, Nelson, Inyo, and Panamint ranges of Inyo County, California. Reported to intergrade with Eriogonum panamintense along an elevation gradient in the northern Coso Range. Add to the NNPS Watch or Marginal List?
• Erigeron multiceps (Kern River daisy) - Left open by the 2007 Workshop to reconsider taxonomic status - may not be distinct from the common E. divergens. Reported at the 2005 Workshop to have been found on Bridge Mountain in Red Rock Canyon NCA, and also to be present in Mexico. Otherwise known only from 8 map quadrangles on the Kern Plateau in Tulare County, California. NatureServe rank G1. Currently on CNPS List 1B.2, rank S1.2. Added to the NNPS Watch List by the 2006 Workshop. In August 2006 Guy Nesom (FNA Author for Erigeron) indicated to Ann Pinzl that he knew of only a single collection from Mexico, in the Sierra San Pedro Martir of Baja California in the 1960s. Any changes or further consideration needed?
• Draba asterophora var. asterophora (Tahoe draba) - First recommendation for State listing by the 2007 Workshop. Recent research indicates that the Mt. Rose area plants are a tetraploid entity distinct from the tetraploid Heavenly and the diploid Monument Peak populations, which will be named as separate taxa. Greatest impacts are currently projected for the Mt. Rose populations, which retain the name var. asterophora. The report of Draba asterophora from the central Sierra Nevada is suspected to be erroneous. NatureServe ranks G4T2, S1 in Nevada, S1.3 in California, and on CNPS List 1B.3.  Currently a USFS Sensitive Species, and on the NNPS Watch List. Final recommendation for State listing? Elevate NNPS status to Threatened or Endangered?
• Cylindropuntia (Opuntia whipplei var.) multigeniculata (Blue Diamond cholla) - Left open by 2006-2007 Workshops, pending further consultation with Marc Baker. Marc Baker's final 2005 report confirms several large new populations scattered through Clark County and adjacent Mohave County, Arizona.  There are slight differences in fruit spines between the eastern and western populations, with intermediates in the McCullough Range; no further taxonomic subdivisions are being proposed.  Blue Diamond cholla as a whole is considered a species distinct from Cylindropuntia whipplei. Previously known only from the Blue Diamond Hills. Current NatureServe ranks T1 S1, on the State of Nevada list of fully protected species, on the BLM Special Status Species list, and on the NNPS Threatened list. Are either of the two geographic fruit forms (presumably genetic variants) rare enough to warrant continued conservation concern? Does the species still merit full protection by the State of Nevada as a Critically Endangered species?
• Castilleja salsuginosa (Monte Neva paintbrush) - Left open by 2007 workshop. Known from two sites, both in Nevada, one at Monte Neva Hot Springs in Steptoe Valley, north of Ely, White Pine County, the other at Hot Spring Hill, just off Highway 50 in Eureka County. The Hot Spring Hill site experienced heavy Mormon Cricket impacts in 2006. Discuss new 2007 information. Any further review needed?
• Astragalus hornii var. hornii (Horn milkvetch) - Placed on NNPS Watch list by 2007 workshop, but left open pending possible location and search of historical Nevada site. Known in Nevada from a single historic occurrence at "The Willows" on the west side of Pyramid Lake, Washoe County, in 1913. Otherwise known only from the southern San Joaquin Valley and western Mojave Desert of California, where already extirpated from several historic locations, and seriously endangered by habitat alteration and past eradication efforts due to livestock toxicity. Only 5 California locations documented in the last 50 years. Habitat alkaline flats, playa, and lake margins. On CNPS List 1B.1, NatureServe ranks G2G3, S2S3 in CA, S1 in NV. Any new information on location or status in Nevada?

• WEDNESDAY 1:30-4:30 pm - CHAIR Steve Caicco
  • 1:30-2:15 - Jim Morefield, Nevada Natural Heritage Program: Role and Format of the Nevada Rare Plant Workshop: discussion of future scenarios
  • 2:15-3:00 - Emily Smith, Brigham Young University: Rarity in an alpine endemic mustard: Draba asterophora.
  • 3:00-3:15 - BREAK
  • 3:15-3:45 - Jason Alexander, Oregon State University: A Taxonomic Revision of Astragalus mokiacensis and Allied Taxa within the Astragalus lentiginosus Complex of Section Diphysi
  • 3:45-4:15 - Alison Stanton, BMP Ecoscience: Conservation and Management of the Steamboat Buckwheat Eriogonum ovalifolium var. williamsiae
  • 4:15-close - Open - program updates from other participants
• THURSDAY 9:00-12:00 am - CHAIR Ann Pinzl
  • 9:00-9:15 - review of day's agenda and plans, requests for out-of-order items, etc.
  • 9:15-9:45 - Steve Caicco, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, The Rarest Plants in the Great Basin of Nevada: what we know, what we don't, and what we need to do
  • 9:45-10:15 - Alison Stanton, BMP Ecoscience: Doing Adaptive Management: Improving the Application of Science to the Restoration of a Rare Tahoe Plant
  • 10:15-10:30 - BREAK
  • 10:30-11:00 - Kent Ostler, Nevada Test Site: Monitoring Sensitive Species on the Nevada Test Site
  • 11:00-11:30 - Tara Forbis, USDA Agricultural Research Service: Species distribution modeling for rare plants of White River Valley, Nevada
  • 11:30-12:00 - Open - program updates from other participants
• THURSDAY EVENING (NNPS meeting 7-9 pm, UNR Campus, lab across the courtyard from the herbarium at 920 Valley Road)
  • 7:30-8:30 pm: Jason Alexander, Oregon State University: the genus Astragalus in southern Nevada: the status of a few rare taxa and a potential undescribed variety of Astragalus praelongus.

• Boechera (Arabis) fernaldiana (Fernald rockcress) - both varieties currently on the Nevada Natural Heritage Program watch list, var. stylosa on Inyo National Forest watch list, neither on any NNPS list.  The varieties were not considered very strong by Rollins in 1993, and were lumped by Intermountain Flora vol. 2B in 2005.  Do we have any reason to disagree with sinking the varieties?  Any need for further conservation concern for the species or its varieties?
• Cryptantha costata (ribbed cryptantha) - recently found in Nevada by Jim Andre within 2 miles of Overton, where threatened by expansion of Logandale. NatureServe ranks G4G5, S3.3 in CA, S1 in NV, not ranked in AZ. On CNPS List 4.3 ("Watch List" equivalent). Add to NNPS Watch or Marginal lists?
• Epilobium nevadense (Nevada willowherb) - appears to remain very rare in the Spring Mountains. Known as of early 2007 from 7 occurrences in 3 widely separated mountain ranges of southeastern Nevada (including the Spring Mountains), and from 3 more widely separated occurrences in southwestern Utah. Currently on NNPS Watch List, with NatureServe ranks G2, S2 in Nevada, S1 in Utah. A fourth Nevada occurrence was documented in 2007 by Gregory Gust of the Eastern Nevada Landscape Coalition in the Delamar Mountains of Lincoln County, about 28 km southwest of the previously known Clover Mountains occurrence in Lincoln County. Is this species more imperiled than its current status would indicate. Are any status changes warranted?
• Eriogonum crosbyae (Crosby buckwheat) and Ivesia rhypara var. rhypara (grimy ivesia) - Lucile Housley, BLM Botanist in Lakeview, Oregon, reports that monitoring studies conducted by Delbert Wiens and others over the past decade are indicating significant population losses in Oregon. During a recent visit to the I L Ranch population of Ivesia rhypara var. rhypara in Elko county, it appeared to be unchanged from its condition a decade ago. Any knowledge of trends in other Nevada populations of these species? Any need for status changes at this time?
• Thelypodium sagittatum var. ovalifolium (ovalleaf thelypody) - considered for threatened status by NNNPS during the MX Missile proposal, then dropped from further consideration. Known from scattered small populations in moist alkaline soils around springs and valley bottoms of Steptoe, White River, Spring, Lake, Ruby, and Little Fishlake valleys in Elko, Lincoln, Nye, and White Pine counties, Nevada, and from four adjacent counties in Utah. NatureServe ranks G4T2, S2 in Nevada, S2 in Utah. Are threats increasing from proposed water withdrawals or other factors affecting its valley-bottom wetland habitat? Should we place back on NNPS Watch List and monitor?
• Taxa recommended for addition or transfer to the NNPS "M" list (Marginal and/or disjunct occurrence in Nevada, more widespread elsewhere).

• Boechera elkoensis - an apomictic triploid hybrid segregated from B. platysperma in the major revision for the upcoming Flora of North America treatment, known from the Sierra Nevada of California, and disjunct at the type locality overlooking Island Lake in the Ruby Mountains of Elko County, Nevada.

• Boechera depauperata (Arabis lemmonii var. depauperata) - more narrowly circumscribed in the major revision for the upcoming Flora of North America treatment, and now disjunct and limited in Nevada to the Mount Rose area of Washoe County. Main population is in the central Sierra Nevada of California.

• Chorizanthe corrugata - known from about 5 collections in the Lake Mead / Colorado River corridor, otherwise much more common (G5) in CA, AZ, and northwest Mexico. More than 20 occurrences may exist in Nevada (2004 Workshop).
• Eriogonum nudum var. oblongifolium - known from fewer than a dozen collections along the east slope of the Carson Range and on Peavine Mountain in Douglas and Washoe counties and probably in Carson City, otherwise widespread and common (T5) in northern CA and southern OR. More than 20 occurrences may exist in Nevada (2004 Workshop).
• Eriogonum panamintense (excluding E. mensicola) - known from less than 15 collections in western Esmeralda and southwestern Nye counties and in the Spring Mountains of western Clark County, otherwise somewhat more widespread (G3G4) in eastern Inyo and San Bernardino counties, CA, to Mojave County, AZ. More than 20 occurrences may exist in Nevada (2004 Workshop).
• Eriogonum plumatella - known from fewer than 6 collections in Clark County, otherwise widespread though infrequently encountered (G3G4) throughout the Mojave Desert of southeastern CA and western AZ. More than 20 occurrences may exist in Nevada (2004 Workshop).
• Keckiella antirrhinoides - known from Newberry Mountains only? (offered by Elizabeth Powell, April 2002)
• Lycium parishii - known from Newberry Mountains area only? (offered by Elizabeth Powell, April 2002)
• Mentzelia jonesii - Reported in Nevada as "restricted but locally abundant in the south, from the Newberry Mts. to Empire Wash, 10 miles west of U.S. Hwy. 95 and along State Hwy. 77, between Bridge Canyon and Hiko Spring Wash, Newberry Mts., Clark Co." (Kartesz 1987, p. 352). Otherwise apparently more common but poorly known in California, Arizona, and Utah. NatureServe rank G3G4.

7. Stale business (Thursday afternoon, CHAIR Steve Caicco): a "radar screen" for long-unresolved or ongoing issues (see separate background information on these taxa)

• Astragalus lentiginosus var. stramineus (Straw milkvetch) - NNPS Watch List (2002).

• Atriplex argentea var. longitrichoma (Pahrump silverscale) - NNPS Watch List (2003).

• Botrychium (moonwort) taxa in Spring Mountains etc. - any new information? See 2008 comments from Dr. Donald Farrar.

• Eriogonum salicornioides (saltwort buckwheat) - NNPS Marginal List pending verification in Nevada.

• Lathyrus grimesii and Trifolium leibergii - update on noxious weed treatment and/or monitoring?

• Mimulus "ovatus" sp. or var. (Steamboat monkeyflower) - NNPS Threatened List, new name needed.

• Perityle congesta (Grand Canyon rockdaisy) - present in Nevada?

• Sisyrinchium funereum (Death Valley blue-eyed grass) - NNPS Threatened List (2003), Ash Meadows IDs pending.

• Sisyrinchium radicatum (Las Vegas blue-eyed grass) - NNPS Watch List (2003), Ash Meadows IDs pending.

• Spiranthes diluvialis (Ute ladies'-tresses) - Rediscovered in Nevada in 2005, USFWS action pending.

10. Nevada Native Plant Society monthly meeting, 7:00-9:00 pm, UNR Campus. Jason Alexander, Oregon State University, will speak about the genus Astragalus in southern Nevada: the status of a few rare taxa and a potential undescribed variety of Astragalus praelongus. Directions at http://heritage.nv.gov/nnnpsprg.htm.

(last updated 01 April 2008) 

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