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Plant Profile

Clay Phacelia (Phacelia argillacea)

This shot shows off the beautiful blue flowers of this member of the waterleaf family. Photo Credit: ©R. Delmatier

Global Rank: G1 - Critically Imperiled
Legal Status: Federally Endangered
Family: Hydrophyllaceae
State: UT
Nature Serve ID: 133894
Lifeform: Forb/herb
Date Inducted in National Collection: 02/10/1987

Description:

Clay phacelia is a Federally listed endangered plant. It is found in only one location in the world--Spanish Fork Canyon in Utah. In 1977, only nine plants were known to exist. The main cause attributed to this decline was the construction of a railroad directly through the known population, and the plant was listed due to concerns that an access road to the railroad would eliminate the few remaining plants. (USFWS 1978) By 1980, the size of the remaining population had declined even further, to only four individual plants, due to trampling by sheep. (USFWS 1980) At this point in the continuing saga of this plant, the tiny population was fenced, and by 1982 the plants had recovered to some extent, with about 200 plants known. (USFWS 1982a, 1982b) In 1990, fenced population was further protected when The Nature Conservancy purchased the land it was on. (Biodiversity Network News 1990) Today, the species is in a stable but precarious position, protected from extinction by not much more than a fence and the will of dedicated individuals. This species is a member of the waterleaf family that grows on steep talus slopes in Spanish Fork Canyon, Utah. It is a winter annual, germinating in the fall and producing violet to pink flowers in the summer.

Where is Clay Phacelia (Phacelia argillacea) located in the wild?

Habitat:

Steep hillsides in a sparse juniper-pinyon or mountain brush community on a fine textured clay derived from a shale.

Distribution:

Found only in Spanish Fork Canyon in Utah. (USGS 2002)

States & Provinces:

Clay Phacelia can be found in Utah

Which CPC Partners conserve Clay Phacelia (Phacelia argillacea)?

Red Butte Garden and Arboretum

Not Sponsored

Conservation Actions

Assigned 06/09/17

National Laboratory for Genetic Resource Preservation (USDA-ARS)

Not Sponsored

Conservation Actions

Assigned 01/16/24

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

Tina Stanley

01/16/2024

Red Butte Garden has sent at least 500 wild-collected seeds of Phacelia argillacea to the USDA-ARS National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation for long term storage.

Tina Stanley

01/16/2024

Between 1998 and 2012, Red Butte Garden staff made 6 wild seed collections representing more than 3,400 seeds from 48 individuals of Phacelia argillacea. Over 2,300 of these seeds are held in long term storage at Red Butte Garden.

09/23/2020

Habitat surveys, population monitoring, and genetic studies have been initiated with funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, and the Utah Native Plant Society. (USGS 2000)

09/23/2020

09/23/2020

Nature Serve Biotics

05/02/2017

A narrow endemic of Utah County, Utah. There are only two known populations. Since this species is a winter annual and is extremely restricted by climatic and edaphic factors, it is vulnerable to extinction. Neither population is on pristine habitat - the larger population is bisected by railroad tracks and a main highway - and both populations have been subject to sheep grazing.

Sylvia Torti

01/01/2010

Small population size could result in natural extinction Railway or road maintenance or construction Rock climbers Sheep grazing

Sylvia Torti

01/01/2010

There are only a few dozen plants clinging to shale hillsides at three locations west of Soldier Summit.

Sylvia Torti

01/01/2010

Lori Armstrong, a graduate student at Brigham Young University, did her master's work on the species in the early 1990's, and researchers at Red Butte Garden and Arboretum assisted in some of the propagation work. Habitat surveys, population monitoring, and genetic studies have been initiated with funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, and the Utah Native Plant Society. (USGS 2000)

Sylvia Torti

01/01/2010

This species is managed by the Forest Service. The Nature Conservancy owns and manages the land the original population occurs on, maintaining a fence around most of the population to protect the plants from grazing and trampling. (USGS 2002)

Sylvia Torti

01/01/2010

The population should be re-censused and the feasibility of reintroduction should be studied.

Sylvia Torti

01/01/2010

This species has been grown successfully to maturity in the greenhouse.