Search / Plant Profile / Tropidocarpum capparideum

Plant Profile

Caper-fruit Tropidocarpum (Tropidocarpum capparideum)

Global Rank: G1 - Critically Imperiled
Legal Status: N/A
Family: Brassicaceae
State: CA
Nature Serve ID: 144396
Lifeform: Forb/herb
Date Inducted in National Collection: 09/01/2001

Description:

Tropidocarpum capparideum is an annual herb with a single stem, branched from the middle or above, usually 2-5 dm long. Leaves are deeply divided into needle-like leaflets. The small flowers are yellow, sometimes with a purplish tinge, and are borne in a loose terminal cluster. Blooms March-April. [NatureServe]

Where is Caper-fruit Tropidocarpum (Tropidocarpum capparideum) located in the wild?

Habitat:

Tropidocarpum capparideum prefers alkaline soils of grasslands of low hills and valleys at less than 200 m elevation. [NatureServe]

Distribution:

Tropidocarpum capparideum was thought to be extinct but was rediscovered in 2000. There are 18 known occurrences within San Luis Obispo and Monterey Counties. [CNPS]

States & Provinces:

Caper-fruit Tropidocarpum can be found in California

Which CPC Partners conserve Caper-fruit Tropidocarpum (Tropidocarpum capparideum)?

Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

Not Sponsored

Assigned 06/09/17

California Botanic Garden

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

09/01/2020

Based on an September 2020 extract of the California Plant Rescue Database, California Botanic Garden holds 2 accessions of Tropidocarpum capparideum in orthodox seed collection. There are as many as 1294 seeds of this species in their collection - although some may have been used for curation testing or sent to back up.

08/05/2020

Based on an August 2020 extract of the California Plant Rescue Database, California Botanic Garden has collected 1 seed accessions of Tropidocarpum capparideum from 1 plant occurrences listed in the California Natural Diversity Database. These collections together emcompass 5 maternal plants

Nature Serve Biotics

05/02/2017

Known only from the vicinity of Mount Diablo in California. This species was missing from 1957 until 2003 when it was rediscovered.

01/01/2010

Exotic plants.

01/01/2010

Extinct in California...but Wilken reports on population in 2001 proposal!