Search / Plant Profile / Deinandra mohavensis

Plant Profile

Mohave Tarplant (Deinandra mohavensis)

This shot of the tarplant features its yellow flowers. Photo Credit: Michael Wall

Global Rank: G3 - Vulnerable
Legal Status: N/A
Family: Asteraceae
State: CA
Nature Serve ID: 145787
Lifeform: Forb/herb
Date Inducted in National Collection:

Description:

Hemizonia mohavensis was considered extinct for over 50 years, as historical collections of this plant came from a three locations, including one in the San Jacinto Mountains and another on a sand bar along the Mojave River on the north slope of the San Bernardino Mountains in San Bernardino County, California. All of this original habitat was altered by flood control methods and by off road vehicle activity, and the species disappeared from the records. The Mohave tarplant was rediscovered in 1994 in the San Jacinto Mountains. Further searching has found a number of other populations on different mountain ranges within California, and this species is now considered stable. (Stephenson 1999) The species is a sparsely branched, aromatic annual herb with yellow flowers.

Where is Mohave Tarplant (Deinandra mohavensis) located in the wild?

Habitat:

Sandy areas along the Mojave River.

Distribution:

Has been documented in the San Jacinto Mountain, on Baldy Mountain, Poppet Flat, Palomar Mountains (San Diego County) in the vicinity of Indian Flats and in Chihuahua Valley, north of Warner Springs,

States & Provinces:

Mohave Tarplant can be found in California

Which CPC Partners conserve Mohave Tarplant (Deinandra mohavensis)?

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 of the population of Deinandra mohavensis (Mojave tarplant) located in Short Canyon near Inyokern in Kern County, California on October 28, 2021. This is a recollection of the 1998 seed collection made by A.C. Sanders and Steve Boyd (CalBG Accession #20160), 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

08/18/2021

In 2021, CPC contracted 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 21 accessions of Deinandra mohavensis in orthodox seed collection. There are as many as 185883 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 10 seed accessions of Deinandra mohavensis from 8 plant occurrences listed in the California Natural Diversity Database. These collections together emcompass 481 maternal plants

Nature Serve Biotics

05/02/2017

Endemic to California, Hemizonia mohavensis was rediscovered in 1994 and is known from less than 70 occurrences, some of which have not been recently observed.

01/01/2010

Found in a number of locations in California.

01/01/2010

None known.