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Plant Profile

Parish's Rockcress (Boechera parishii)

Photo Credit: Rancho Santa Ana

Global Rank: G2 - Imperiled
Legal Status: N/A
Family: Brassicaceae
State: CA
Nature Serve ID: 158312
Lifeform: Forb/herb
Date Inducted in National Collection:

Description:

Parishs rock cress is endemic to the San Bernardino National Forest along with the San Bernardino rock cress (Arabis breweri var. pecuniaria), another imperiled rock cress species in our database. Between April and May, A.parishii produces skinny, tubular blooms that come in various shades of white and purple. They grow close to the ground and prefer Pinyon-Juniper woodlands and pebble plains. The pebble plains that they favor are easily disturbed and difficult to restore. That said, human activities such as urbanization, off-road vehicular activity, and local carbonate mining are regular threats and why A.parishii is currently listed as Imperiled. Non-native species including Cheat Grass and Burros are natural threats that are capable of outcompeting A.parashii.

Where is Parish's Rockcress (Boechera parishii) located in the wild?

Habitat:

alluvial soil this species can tolerate certain types of disturbance, such as burning, but cannot handle a lot of ground disturbance such as fuel break construction

Distribution:

Arabis parishii is endemic to San Bernardino National Forest (like the critically imperiled Arabis breweri var. pecuniaria). Unlike its relative though, A. parishii is not as endangered and has several occurrences throughout the forest including Big Bear Lake.

States & Provinces:

Parish's Rockcress can be found in California

Which CPC Partners conserve Parish's Rockcress (Boechera parishii)?

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

Cheryl Birker

11/19/2021

The California Botanic Garden made a conservation seed collection from a population of Boechera parishii (Parish’s rockcress) located near Baldwin Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains of San Bernardino County, California on June 3, 2021. This is a recollection of the 1991 seed collection made by Mike Hammitt (CalBG Accession #17188), and a seed sample was sent to the National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation for use in the CPC/IMLS RNA Integrity Study.

Center for Plant Conservation

08/17/2021

In 2021, CPC contracted the California Botanic Garden to recollect seed from a population currently held in long term orthodox seed storage as part of an IMLS-funded seed longevity experiment. The National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation will evaluate how germination tested viability and RNA Integrity of seed lots decline over time in storage.

09/01/2020

Based on an September 2020 extract of the California Plant Rescue Database, California Botanic Garden holds 1 accessions of Boechera parishii in orthodox seed collection. There are as many as 1957 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 Boechera parishii from 1 plant occurrences listed in the California Natural Diversity Database. These collections together emcompass an unknown number of maternal plants

01/01/2010

14 populations as of 1978