Zayante Sandhills Conservation Bank

Ben Lomond Wallflower		Mount Hermon June Beetle		Silverleaf Manzanita		Band-winged Grasshopper		Ben Lomond Spineflower		Ben Lomond buckwheat
Ben Lomond Wallflower	Zayante Sandhills Conservation Bank									Ben Lomond buckwheat

Zayante Sandhills Conservation Bank Federally Endangered Species

Ben Lomond Spineflower -
(Chorizanthe pungens var. hartwegiana)

– The Ben Lomond spineflower is an annual herb in the buckwheat family (Polygonaceae). It was listed as an endangered species on February 4, 1997 (59 Federal Register 5499). Plants produce rose-pink margins on the floral heads. Seedling spineflowers develop a basal rosette of spatulate (spoon-shaped) leaves during the winter, then bolt and flower in early spring (March-April). The pale pink flowers of the Ben Lomond spineflower are surrounded by deeper pink spiny bracts, for which the spineflower is named.

The pale pink flowers of the Ben Lomond spineflower are surrounded by deeper pink spiny bracts, for which the spineflower is named. The Ben Lomond spineflower occurs only in the Zayante Sandhills—a unique community of plants and animals found only on sandy soils of the Zayante series in central Santa Cruz

County. It occurs in open habitats away from shrubs and trees in both the sandhills chaparral and the sand parkland communities. Habitat loss and degradation have threatened the persistence of this federally endangered species.

The Ben Lomond spineflower

Photo-McGraw

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