Rare Plant Program

Rediscovering California's Rarest Plants

There's nothing quite so delightful as finding a long-lost treasure, whether it's an old friend or a beloved object from childhood. Similar delights may be in store for those who join our campaign to rediscover California's rarest plants. Thousands of rare plant populations are visited every year by chapter activists and agency botanists; some haven't been documented in decades. A few might have gone extinct, but many of these long-lost populations may just be waiting for you to rediscover them.

Even the spectacular Panamint daisy (Enceliopsis covillei), the logo plant of CNPS, is poorly reported. Most records in the California Natural Diversity Database (CNDDB) are at least fifteen years old. No doubt many of the occurrences have been seen more recently than that, but we need the data!

If you choose to join us in this important work, your discoveries will help us protect California's most threatened plants. Sound conservation depends on current information and this information can only come from the dedicated volunteers in the field.

CNPS and CNDDB have prepared a list of priority taxa for survey work in 2003. If and when you find some occurrences of a rare plant, detailed information on how to document your discoveries should be consulted. An example featuring beach spectaclepod (Dithyrea maritima) will show you how the whole process will work, from start to finish.

Please help our 2003 survey effort - the plants are depending on you!