Countywide : Rare Plants Have Roots in County

Orange County is home to more than 40 native plants that the local chapter of the California Native Plant Society has classified as rare or endangered.

Three of the plants are endemic to the county and can be found in no other part of the world, according to Michael Lindsey, president of the society’s local chapter.

One is the Dudleya stolonifera, which clings to life on vertical, north-facing rocky slopes in Laguna Canyon and Aliso Canyon.

The second is the big-leaved crown-beard, which grows only on a ridgeline behind Moulton Meadows Park in Laguna Beach and on the north side of Aliso Creek in the San Joaquin Hills. It is a perennial shrub of the sunflower family.

The third is the foothill Mariposa lily, which sends up pretty purplish and yellow blossoms in the spring on the slopes of the Santa Ana Mountains.

The Dudleya and big-leafed crown-beard are extremely rare, while the lily is a little more prevalent, Lindsey said.

The Dudleya stolonifera grows in such rocky and remote areas that it is not threatened by competition from other plants or by animals that would eat it, Lindsey said.

It can get by on what little water it receives naturally by storing moisture in thick, succulent leaves.

Using binoculars to spot the bright, tubular-shaped, lemon-yellow flowers, Lindsey counted more than 300 of the small plants in June during a monitoring program he undertook for California Nature Conservancy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of unique natural areas.

A stand of Dudleya stolonifera is in city-owned Laguna Laurel parkland, and another site where the plant can be found is owned by Aliso Creek Inn, whose owners are dedicated to preserving the plant, Lindsey said.

The county also has a population of Braunton’s rattleweed, a relative to the lupine that for a time was believed extinct but, as it turned out, was only waiting for the next brush fire to make a comeback.

The plant is “a fire follower,” Lindsey said, and it needs the heat of a fire to cause its seeds to germinate.

At the moment, it is nowhere to be seen in the county, but the seeds are in the ground, waiting for the next fire, he said.

The Braunton’s rattleweed was found in a grove of Tecate cypress, a rare tree found in Coal Canyon as well as in San Diego and Mexico.

The tree has bright green leaves, cherry-red bark and unusual cone clusters holding seeds.

The oldest and largest living Tecate cypress, about 150 years old, is growing in Coal Canyon in North County.

The Tecate cypress is extremely rare, and the county is the northernmost place it grows, Lindsey said.

The California Native Plant Society focuses on long-term protection and preservation of native flora in its natural habitat.

Its activities include preparing local plant lists, supporting establishment of protected reserves for native plants, monitoring and reducing the spread of invasive non-native species and providing expert information on plants.