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Plant Profile

San Joaquin Woollythread (Monolopia congdonii)

Monolopia congdonii plants in flower Photo Credit: Robert Preston

Global Rank: G2 - Imperiled
Legal Status: Federally Endangered
Family: Asteraceae
State: CA
Nature Serve ID: 153488
Lifeform: Forb/herb
Date Inducted in National Collection:

Description:

This diminutive annual has been lost from much of it original range in the southern San Joaquin Valley as a result of agriculture and urbanization. It once occurred within what is now the city limits of Bakersfield (Twisselmann 1956, 1967). A member of the sunflower family, Monolopia congdonii also has been placed historically in Eatonella and Lembertia, but is probably best considered a member of Monolopia (Johnson 2006, Baldwin 1999), based on a re-evaluation of molecular and morphological data. Plants range from a few cm to about 10 cm tall, and bear slender, arching or reclining branches with somewhat woolly leaves. The yellow-flowered heads grow in cluster at the tips of the shoots, appearing between February through early April.

Where is San Joaquin Woollythread (Monolopia congdonii) located in the wild?

Habitat:

Typical habitats include flats and gentle slopes with sandy to gravelly soils. Typical plant communities include open grasslands and shrublands dominated by salt-bush (Atriplex) or Mormon tea (Ephedra) (Taylor 1987; Williams et al. 1998).

Distribution:

This herb is endemic to Southern San Joaquin Valley from Fresno and Kings County south to Kern County, California. Other extant occurrences can be found in Santa Barbara, San Benito and San Luis Obispo counties (Skinner 1997).

States & Provinces:

San Joaquin Woollythread can be found in California

Which CPC Partners conserve San Joaquin Woollythread (Monolopia congdonii)?

Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

Not Sponsored

Conservation Actions

Assigned 09/11/17

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, University of California Botanical Garden holds 1 accessions of Monolopia congdonii in orthodox seed collection. We are uncertain as to how many total seeds are in this collection.

09/01/2020

Based on an September 2020 extract of the California Plant Rescue Database, National Laboratory for Genetic Resource Preservation (USDA-ARS) holds 1 accessions of Monolopia congdonii in orthodox seed collection. There are as many as 250 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, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden has collected 1 seed accessions of Monolopia congdonii from 1 plant occurrences listed in the California Natural Diversity Database. These collections together emcompass an unknown number of maternal plants

08/05/2020

Based on an August 2020 extract of the California Plant Rescue Database, University of California Botanical Garden has collected 1 seed accessions of Monolopia congdonii from 1 plant occurrences listed in the California Natural Diversity Database. These collections together emcompass an unknown number of maternal plants

Nature Serve Biotics

05/02/2017

Endemic to California, Lembertia congdonii is known from about fifty-nine extant occurrences in six counties. Threats to this taxon are agricultural conversion, energy development, urbanization, grazing, trampling, vehicles, gravel and sand extraction, and oil and gas development.
Declined from eighty-two to fifty-two occurrences in recent years (Bittman 1998).

Dieter Wilken

01/01/2010

The principal threats in the past have been urbanization, agriculture, and intense grazing during the growing season. Excluding cattle and sheep grazing at some sites has resulted in increased numbers of plants. Current threats on unprotected lands includ

Dieter Wilken

01/01/2010

Fewer than 25 among 87 documented occurrences remained extant by the end of 1990s. The number of plants varies from year to year, based on winter precipitation records, with upwards of 20,000 individuals counted during exceptional years with above average precipitation. However, many occurrences are based on reports of from 5 to 50 individuals in years with average precipitation.

Dieter Wilken

01/01/2010

Populations on public lands in Fresno and Kings County are managed by the Bureau of Land Management, Hollister District. Populations in the Carrizo Plain National Monument are managed by the Bureau of Land Management, Bakersfield District.

Dieter Wilken

01/01/2010

Development of management protocols that reduce grazing impacts, reduce competition from exotic grasses, and promote giant kangaroo rat habitat.

Dieter Wilken

01/01/2010

Development of a conservation seed bank Development of a propagation protocol to be applied to in situ conditions