Search / Plant Profile / Cleome multicaulis

Plant Profile

Many-stem Spider-flower (Cleome multicaulis)

Global Rank: G2 - Imperiled
Legal Status: N/A
Family: Capparaceae
State: AZ, CO, NM, TX, WY
Nature Serve ID: 161131
Lifeform: Forb/herb
Date Inducted in National Collection: 02/09/1992

Description:

Where is Many-stem Spider-flower (Cleome multicaulis) located in the wild?

Habitat:

Wet, Saline or alkaline soils; around ponds, meadows, or old lake beds. Often grows in bands just above rushes and extending into greasewood and Saltgrass communities. Elev. 3,600-4,200 ft. in Arizona (Arizona Rare Plant Committee 2001). Elev. 7,500-9,000 ft. in Colorado (Spackman 1997). Elev. 4,330 ft. in New Mexico. Elev. 3,000 ft. in Texas (Jennings 1998). Elev. 5,860 ft. in Wyoming (Heidel 2007).

Distribution:

Arizona (Wilcox Playa and San Bernardino Ranch, Cochise County), Colorado (Saguache, Rio Grande, Alamosa, Costilla Counties) Colorado, New Mexico (Grant County), Texas (Presidio County), and Wyoming (

States & Provinces:

Many-stem Spider-flower can be found in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Wyoming

Which CPC Partners conserve Many-stem Spider-flower (Cleome multicaulis)?

Denver Botanic Gardens

Not Sponsored

Conservation Actions

Assigned 06/09/17

CPC's Plant Sponsorship Program provides long term stewardship of rare plants in our National Collection. We are so grateful for all our donors who have made the Plant Sponsorship Program so successful. We are in the process of acknowledging all our wonderful plant sponsorship donors on our website. This is a work in progress and will be updated regularly.

Conservation Actions

Alexandra Seglias

10/28/2024

Seed collection made from Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge in 2022

09/03/2020

Recent efforts to relocate the species at San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge have been unsuccessful (Arizona Rare Plant Committee 2001).

Nature Serve Biotics

05/02/2017

Historically, this species occurred in rare, suitable habitats in southcentral Colorado and from southeastern Arizona east to western Texas and south to northern Mexico, with 1 disjunct population in central Wyoming. However, the species is in apparent decline. The Arizona populations have not been confirmed since the 1940's and species has not been seen in New Mexico in recent times (the collections from Las Cruces, New Mexico date from 1851). Although there are now over 25 documented occurrences in Colorado alone, the species appears highly threatened, especially by water projects, and it occurs in few protected areas. The fact that it is an annual, along with its habitat specificity, may make it more vulnerable to chance extinction in a string of bad years or due to other stochastic events. Conservation Considerations: Many wetlands in the southwest have been destroyed and the few remaining continue to be seriously threatened by various human uses (Laurenzi and Spence, 2012).

Akiko Okawado

01/01/2010

Threats include: - Grazing. - Trampling. - Water project in the San Luis Valley: the drainage of wetland and water tables lowered. - Human activities.

Akiko Okawado

01/01/2010

- The slender spiderflower has not been seen in New Mexico since 1851. (NMRPTC 1999) - Known from just two historical locations in Arizona, but have not been seen since the 1940s (Arizona Rare Plant Committee 2001). - Known from a single extant site in Wyoming, last observed in 2000. A second record from 6 miles east of the known colony has not been relocated in follow-up surveys. The label information from this latter specimen may be erroneous, and the two sites are actually confluent. Surveys in 1999-2000 documented approximately 500,000-1,000,000 individuals in 200 acres. Density ranges from 135-1300 individuals per square meter, depending on habitat quality. Population size may fluctuate annually, depending on moisture conditions and seed bank size. (Heidel 2007) - In Colorado, 30 occurrences have been documented.

Akiko Okawado

01/01/2010

None known.

Akiko Okawado

01/01/2010

There is no formal management plan.

Akiko Okawado

01/01/2010

Understanding all aspects of ecology and biology of this species is needed.

Akiko Okawado

01/01/2010

Ex situ propagation of the species for possible reintroduction into suitable habitat, seed germination, and restoration experiments are needed. Recent efforts to relocate the species at San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge have been unsuccessful (Arizona Rare Plant Committee 2001).