| Sibara filifolia Santa Cruz Island winged rockcress |
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|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Brassicales |
| Family: | Brassicaceae |
| Genus: | Sibara |
| Species: | S. filifolia |
| Binomial name | |
| Sibara filifolia Greene |
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| Synonyms | |
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Arabis filifolia |
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Sibara filifolia, known by the common name Santa Cruz Island winged rockcress, is a rare species of flowering plant in the mustard family. It is endemic to the Channel Islands of California, where it is now known from a few occurrences on San Clemente Island and one population on Catalina Island.[1]
It was once present on Santa Cruz Island, and perhaps other Channel Islands, but these occurrences were extirpated by feral goats and pigs.[2] The plant was feared extinct until small remaining occurrences were discovered in 1986.[3] A 1995 estimate of the total remaining population was 500 individuals.[2] The plant became a federally listed endangered species of the United States in 1997, along with Cercocarpus traskiae and Lithophragma maximum, two other rare Channel Islands plants.[4]
Contents |
Sibara filifolia is an annual herb producing a hairless, sometimes waxy stem up to about 30 centimeters in maximum height. The leaves are very narrow, almost strandlike, measuring less than a millimeter wide, and growing about 1.5 centimeters long. The flowers each have four spoon-shaped lavender petals a few millimeters long. The fruit is a flattened, elongated silique up to 4 centimeters long containing tiny seeds.
Sibara filifolia grows in the coastal sage scrub of two islands off the coast of southern California.