Bloomeria clevelandii

Bloomeria clevelandii is a rare species of flowering plant that is known by the common name San Diego goldenstar. It is native to a strip of scrub and coastal grassland in San Diego County, California, and adjacent Baja California. Genetic analysis of several morphologically similar genera shows that this species, which was named Muilla clevelandii for several decades, is not very closely related to the other members of Muilla and is moved back to Bloomeria.[2]

San Diego goldenstar

Imperiled  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asparagaceae
Subfamily: Brodiaeoideae
Genus: Bloomeria
Species:
B. clevelandii
Binomial name
Bloomeria clevelandii
(S.Watson) Hoover
Synonyms[1]

Muilla clevelandii (S.Watson) Hoover

Its specific epithet clevelandii honors 19th-century San Diego-based plant collector and lawyer Daniel Cleveland.[3]

Description

Bloomeria clevelandii is a perennial herb growing from a corm and producing 2 to 8 narrow leaves up to 15 centimeters long. The erect inflorescence arises from ground level and may be up to 70 centimeters tall. It is shaped like an umbel with up to 30 flowers borne on pedicels 2 or 3 centimeters long. The flower has six green-veined yellow tepals each up to a centimeter long.[4]

The species is threatened by the destruction of its coastal habitat to urban development and by impacts from vehicles and trash dumping.[5]

References
  1. Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  2. Pires, J. C. & K. J. Sytsma. (2002). A phylogenetic evaluation of a biosystematic framework: Brodiaea and related petaloid monocots (Themidaceae). Am J Bot 89:1342-1359
  3. "Who was Salvia clevelandii named for?". Smarty Plant. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, the University of Texas at Austin. [T]he author of the species chose to honor Daniel Cleveland, a nineteenth-century lawyer, amateur botanist, plant collector and co-founder of the San Diego Society of Natural History. [Besides Salvia clevelandii,] there are a number of other species named in his honor, including: Cheilanthes clevelandii, Chorizanthe clevelandii, Cryptantha clevelandii, Dodecatheon clevelandii, Horkelia clevelandii, Malacothrix clevelandii, Mimulus clevelandii, Muilla clevelandii, Nicotiana clevelandii and Penstemon clevelandii. Moreover, the monotypic Mexican genus, Clevelandia (now included in Castilleja) was also named in Mr. Cleveland's honor.
  4. Flora of North America, FNA Vol. 26 Page 337, Bloomeria clevelandii S. Watson, Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts. 20: 376. 1885
  5. California Native Plant Society Rare Plant Profile Archived March 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine


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