CNDDB News Blog

An exciting botanical discovery has recently been made! A new species of spineflower, Chorizanthe aphanantha (Irish Hills spineflower), has been formally described after its discovery on the Irish Hills Natural Reserve in San Luis Obispo County. This species was found growing in rocky openings of serpentine chaparral and can occur with several other rare, serpentine-endemic taxa. So far, this new species has only been found on the Irish Hills Natural Reserve and nowhere else in the world!

The CNDDB botany program and the California Native Plant Society’s Rare Plant Program will be working together over the next few weeks to review this species for addition to the CNDDB Special Vascular Plants, Bryophytes, and Lichens List and to the CNPS Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants.

For additional information about this discovery, see the City of San Luis Obispo’s webpage.

California is a biodiversity hotpot. A large part of California’s biodiversity is a result of the exceptional number of native plant species in the state. California currently boasts over 6,500 native plant taxa with about 30% of those plants occurring nowhere else in the world. In conjunction with the large number of native plants in California comes a large number of rare plants as well. The CNDDB currently tracks nearly 2,400 rare plant taxa.

To celebrate this amazing array of botanical diversity, the California State Legislature designated the third week of April to be California Native Plant Week. See the California Native Plant Society website for activities in your area or simply venture outside for a hike to take in and appreciate all the native plant diversity California has to offer!

Space is available in two CNPS workshops on CNPS-CDFW vegetation mapping methods.

Vegetation Rapid Assessment / Relevé
July 19-21, UC WMRC Crooked Creek Station, White Mountains outside of Bishop
Taught by Julie Evens, Vegetation Program Director, CNPS; Jennifer Buck-Diaz, Vegetation Ecologist, CNPS
$555 CNPS Members / $585 Non-Members, INCLUDES ALL MEALS AND LODGING
This course will be a combination of lecture and field exercises in vegetation sampling with a focus on collecting data using the CNPS-CDFW combined vegetation rapid assessment / relevé method. We will discuss applications of fine-scale vegetation sampling, classification and mapping, how to document rare natural communities, and how vegetation information fits into planning documents

Vegetation Mapping
August 1-3, UC Berkeley GIF Lab & field sites in Marin County
Taught by Julie Evens, Vegetation Program Director, CNPS; Todd Keeler-Wolf, Senior Vegetation Ecologist, VegCAMP Program, CDFW; John Menke, Senior Vegetation Mapping Specialist, AIS
$665 CNPS Members / $695 Non-Members
Through a combination of field and computer exercises, participants will learn techniques for fine-scale vegetation mapping. Participants will learn about vegetation sampling, classification, and photo interpretation, practice creating a vegetation map using Geographic Information Systems, collect reconnaissance samples to support the 2nd edition of A Manual of California Vegetation classification, practice techniques of photo interpretation, delineation, and attribution, and validate a vegetation map through accuracy assessment.