Listing
Feb 21, 1990
Feb 21, 1990 Listing
ETWP; Review of Plant Taxa for Listing as Endangered or Threatened Species; Notice of Review; 55 FR…
- Publication type: CNOR
Item 1
FWS Focus
Overview
Characteristics
Overview
The San Jacinto Valley crownscale is a small, salt-tolerant annual forb in the saltbush genus (Atriplex) which belongs to the goosefoot family (Chenopodiaceae). It was listed as endangered in 1998, and ongoing threats to the species include habitat loss, fragmentation, modification and degradation due to agriculture and urban development, drainage and flood control projects, indirect loss of habitat due to alteration of hydrology and floodplain dynamics, as well as non-native plants. The Western Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan was implemented beginning in 2004 providing for the conservation of 40 percent of the species occurrences within the existing preserve.
Scientific Name
Atriplex coronata var. notatior
Common Name
San Jacinto Valley crownscale
FWS Category
Flowering Plants
Identification Numbers
Characteristics
Characteristic category
Physical Characteristics
Characteristics
Size & Shape
It is 4 to 12 inches tall and generally appears gray and scaly during the growing season, becoming glabrous and straw-colored as it matures.
Color & Pattern
Its grayish leaves are stalkless and attached directly at the base. Its tiny, inconspicuous gray-green flowers occur in mixed clusters.
Characteristic category
Life Cycle
Characteristics
Life Cycle
It flowers usually in May, and or, June.
Characteristic category
Habitat
Characteristics
Habitat
It is restricted to seasonally dry saline wetlands, including alkali vernal meadows and the shallower parts of alkali vernal pools. The areas where this plant occurs are saline-sodic depressions typically flooded very shallowly by winter rains or feature saline-sodic flats whose soils are frequently saturated during the winter. The San Jacinto Valley crownscale is a halophyte, a type of plant which tolerates or depends on salty soils. The crownscale is found only on soils which are both saline and which contain carbonate salts, referred to as sodic soils, as opposed to mere sodium salts. The crownscale tolerates very shallow flooding, or microflooding, during the winter rainy season. It completes the latter part of its growth period after inundation has ceased, including the period of flowering, fruiting and seed detachment. The tiny seeds are hypothesized to be dispersed principally by water and also possibly by attaching to the fur of passing mammals.
Geography
Characteristics
Range
It is found in three floodplains of western Riverside County, California—that of the San Jacinto River, including Mystic Lake, the Hemet Vernal Pool Complex on the west side of the Hemet Valley, and Alberhill Creek.
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