Uncovering Two New Novel Plants By: Kevin Mason, Rare Plant Technician
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forest of black oak, incense cedar, and Jeffery pine provide shade and fill the air with a woodsy scent on the hike up the mountain. Near the top, these tall trees are replaced by low chaparral shrubs and forbs, which are likely providing forage for black bears and other animals.
opportunit y to observe plants in ecosystems that are often understudied – such as the summit of Bald Mountain.
While in the field, we conduct surveys, collect herbarium specimens, and collect seeds from rare plants throughout California - from the Channel Islands to the high ranges of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Since rare plants often grow in both isolated and unique habitats, our travels offer an
A New Lomatium sp. nov. on Bald Mountain While surveying for Lomatium stebbinsii, I noticed another Lomatium growing nearby. We presumed the neighboring Lomatium was an undescribed species closely related to large-fruited lomatium (Lomatium macrocarpum). However, the undescribed plant (Lomatium sp. nov.) differs in petal color and in having hairy petals. The large-fruited lomatium has hairless (glabrous) petals, a seemingly subtle but very important difference. This was an exciting discovery because the Bald Mountain plant (Lomatium sp. nov.) is likely of conservation concern as they are only known to grow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Tuolumne Count y. Our work to collect herbarium specimens, record photos and gather other data will allow us to better understand these plants so we can help protect them. We’ll also have an opportunit y to describe and name them so other scientists can identify and track their resiliency over time.
Large fruited lomatium (Lomatium macrocarpum) in San Miguel, CA
A new lomatium (Lomatium sp. nov.) documented on Bald Mountain
These were observations that I made this past field season while visiting an unceded ancestral territory of the Mew-Wuk Tribe. In English, this area is referred to as Bald Mountain and it sits within the Stanislaus National Forest. The Garden’s Rare Plant Conservation team went to this area to survey for Stebbins’ desert parsley (Lomatium stebbinsii) and three bracted onion (Allium tribracteatum) - two rare plants that occur in the treeless zone.
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