NEVADA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY
Rare Plant Committee Meeting
2002-2007 STALE BUSINESS ITEMS
http://heritage.nv.gov/nrpw/stale08.htm
Existing background information for Stale Business items is listed here, in alphabetic order by species. Any new information or recommendations for these taxa should be brought to the attention of the Chair for higher-priority action. Contact Jim Morefield (tel: 775-684-2902, fax: (775) 684-2909, email: jdmore [at] heritage [dot] nv [dot] gov, post: 901 S Stewart Street, suite 5002, Carson City, NV 89701-5245). Recent changes and additions are in the same color as this sentence.
Astragalus lentiginosus var. stramineus (Straw milkvetch) - recommended for NNPS Watch List by 2002 Workshop, left open for Threatened list by the 2002-2006 Workshops pending surveys in the Mesquite area, where it may be impacted by development. Locally plentiful over a very restricted range in the lower Virgin River valley of Mohave Co., Arizona, and adjacent Clark Co., Nevada. Heritage ranks T2T3, S1S2, three Nevada occurrences documented by collections at UNLV. Jason Alexander (see his comments) considers the Nevada populations intermediate with the common var. fremontii, but still serving as an important conduit and component of the genetic diversity in var. stramineus. Gradient between taxa appears to follow a lowland-sand to upland soil gradient. See 2008 comments from Brian Knaus recommending status quo for now. Any new information? Add to NNPS Threatened List? Recommend for BLM Sensitive list? Is Nevada State listing appropriate?Atriplex argentea var. longitrichoma (Pahrump silverscale) - recently described annual, segregated from Atriplex argentea complex based on presence of long deciduous hairs and different fruit characters, closest to Atriplex argentea var. hillmanii as recognized in Flora of North America, vol. 4, distinguished mainly by the abundant deciduous hairs and subtle differences in leaf shape. Known only from Pahrump and Stewart valleys, most abundant in abandoned disturbances. Based on specimens cited in the original publication, it is known from one occurrence each in Nevada and California. Threatened by habitat conversion in Pahrump Valley. Heritage ranks currently T1T2, S1, added to the NNPS Watch List by the 2003 Workshop. Any new information? Recommend for BLM sensitive list? NNPS Threatened status more appropriate?
Botrychium (moonwort) taxa in Spring Mountains - see 2006 comments from Don Farrar. Any new information? See 2008 comments from Dr. Donald Farrar.
Cryptantha insolita (Las Vegas catseye) - Left open by the 2005-2007 workshops pending possible field work and assessment of historical specimens. Placed on the Nevada list of fully protected plant species in 1979. Known from one extirpated and one historical report in the Las Vegas metro area, in 1905 and 1942. Placed in synonymy under C. virginensis, a common species, by Intermountain Flora (vol. 4, 1984). Said to differ from C. virginensis by its appressed (not spreading) leaf hairs, relatively numerous flowering branches (cymes), crowded flowers, and blunt (not sharp) tubercles on backs of nutlets. Said to differ from C. tumulosa by its biennial or short perennial (not strong perennial) habit, stems 1.5-4 dm (not 1-2.5 dm) high, elongate flowering branches, nutlets strongly carinate on back and with definite (not indistinct) tubercles. Sketchy historical habitat information suggests this could be another gypsum soil endemic in need of better searching and documentation. But with no reports since 1942, should this be considered for removal from the Nevada list of fully protect plant species? Or should more intensive searches be initiated on gypsum soil habitats? Arnold Tiehm (see comments) suggests that it may be a good species and that it should be searched for on the deposits in the vicinity of Las Vegas Springs. He also indicated that the existing specimens are good, full collections, and look different from the related species. The historical "Sal Sagev" location is apparently at the intersection of Las Vegas Blvd. and Fremont Street, and is probably completely extirpated. Any new information or recommendations? Specimen at CAS reported to be a lot like C. virginensis.
Eriogonum salicornioides (saltwort buckwheat) - considered by past workshops for the NNPS Marginal List, pending verification in Nevada. Reported from a very imprecisely located collection by Percy Train in northern Humboldt County, and has not been relocated there after some effort.
Lathyrus grimesii and Trifolium leibergii - any new information on status or monitoring of population(s) infested by leafy spurge or other noxious weeds? Information or discussion of increasing mineral exploration activity in North Fork area of the Independence Range?Mimulus "ovatus" sp. or var. - Steamboat monkeyflower. Considered by past Workshops for State listing recommendation, and left open pending better definition of the taxonomy and range. Is an NNPS Threatened species. The population at Steamboat Springs, known to mass-flower in some years, has not been seen for the past three years. Incidental surveys in 2001 and 2003 have documented the continued presence of a very small population just north of Carson Hot Springs in Carson City, but another larger population south of there has been extirpated by residential and freeway construction. A few 2004 surveys found it present in small numbers in altered andesite habitats in the Geiger Grade area. Specimens annotated by Noel Holmgren in the RENO herbarium range from northern Douglas County to the Red Rock area of Washoe County. David Thompson (2005, Syst. Bot. Monogr. 75: 82-87) considers these plants a putative "hybrid" between M. cusickii and M. nanus var. mephiticus. He also re-lectotypified the name to a different Oregon specimen, leaving our plants without a valid name. A preliminary look at specimens in the RENO herbarium by Arnold Tiehm and Jim Morefield suggests that plants from the Steamboat area are distinctive, and they are considering whether to establish a new name for them. Any need for status change(s) at this point?
Perityle congesta (Grand Canyon rockdaisy) - left open by the 2002-2006 Workshops pending verification of a Nevada specimen. Reported from one Nevada site east of Spirit Mountain in the Newberry Mountains, Clark Co. Any new information? Add to NNPS Watch List?
Sisyrinchium funereum (Death Valley blue-eyed grass) - added to the NNPS Threatened List by the 2003 Workshop, and recommended for the first time for addition to the Nevada state list of fully protected species. Cholewa and Henderson (Flora of North America vol. 26, p. 362) recognize the species as distinct based on predominantly branched stems, hyaline margins of inner spathe broad, long, apically rounded or truncate, and flowers pale blue, and report it as endemic to the Death Valley and Ash Meadows area, in moist grassy areas along streams and springs where the soil is strongly alkaline. See comments from Anita Cholewa. Heritage ranks G2G3, S1S2. On CNPS List 1B.3, rank S2.3. USFWS Surveys in the Ash Meadows area in 2003 found many of the plants there to fit the description of, and to not be reliably distinct from...
Sisyrinchium radicatum (Las Vegas blue-eyed grass) - added to the NNPS Watch List in 2003. Specimens from the 2003 Ash Meadows surveys were sent to Dr. Cholewa in August 2003. As of the 2005 Workshop, 16 of 18 specimens from one area had been determined as S. funereum, the other 2 being tentatively assigned to S. radicatum; 12 specimens from another area had not yet been determined. See comments from Dana York. Wetland habitat of both species highly vulnerable. Has there been any further response from Dr. Cholewa, or any other new information about the problem? Does Sisyrinchium funereum yet merit a second recommendation for addition to the Nevada state list of fully protected species? Should either or both be recommended for the BLM sensitive list?
Spiranthes diluvialis (Ute ladies'-tresses) - Rediscovered at Panaca Spring in Nevada in 2005. Left open by the 2006 Workshop pending action by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is considering a petition to de-list this threatened species based mainly on the much larger geographic range discovered since it was listed in 1992. On 4 November 2004, USFWS found that the petition provided "substantial biological information to indicate that removal may be warranted," and initiated a formal status review. The species is now known from small populations in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Nevada. The species is on the State of Nevada's list of fully protected species, and is on the NNPS Threatened list. Any recommendations for status change at this time?(last updated 01 April 2008)