Tag Archives: Fabaceae

Lupinus cusickii ssp. abortivus (Greene) B. J. Cox

Sewage Lupine (Lupinus cusickii ssp. abortivus)

Cusick’s Lupine (Lupinus cusickii S. Watson) (see photo below), an Oregon endemic, is a small, blue-purple flowering species that prefers to grow on eroding mountain slopes. The species can be divided into at least three varieties, all of which are critically endangered. 

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This variety, named for the type location (near stinking water), was endemic to northern Harney County, where the last plants were found in 1896; it is now very likely extinct.

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syn. Lupinus aridus var. abortivus (Greene) C. P. Sm.

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Cusick’s Lupine (Lupinus cusickii); nominate form

Photo: Carmel Cameron
https://www.inaturalist.org/people/carmel34
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

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References: 

[1] Robert J. Meinke: Threatened and endangered vascular plants of Oregon: An illustrated guide. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Endangered Species, Region 1. 1982 

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edited: 11.02.2024

Galactia nummularia Urb.

Sint Maarten Galactia (Galactia nummularia)

This species was described in 1909, it was endemic to the island of St. Martin, where it apparently was restricted to littoral habitats at the Guana Bay in the southeastern part of the island.

The species is known from a single collection and was never found again, it is now considered extinct.

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edited: 27.01.2020

Astragalus endopterus (Barneby) Barneby

Sandbar Milkvetch (Astragalus endopterus)  

The Sandbar Milkvetch is known exclusively from the type material that had been collected in 1947 near Cameron in Coconino County, Arizona, USA, where the plant grew a gravelly washes and sandbars of summer-dry streams at elevations of 1110-1200 m. 

This species was never found again and is believed to be extinct.

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edited: 19.09.2019

Orbexilum macrophyllum (Rowlee) Rydb.

Bigleaf Snakeroot (Orbexilum macrophyllum)

The Bigleaf Snakeroot aka. Large-leaved Leather-root was described in 1919; it is endemic to the Tyron Mountains in North Carolina, USA.

The species has never been found since 1899 when the type material was collected; it may well be extinct.

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The photo below shows a congeneric taxon, the Eastern Sampson’s Snakeroot (Orbexilum psoralioides(Walter) Vincent), photographed in North Carolina, USA.

Eastern Sampson’s Snakeroot (Orbexilum psoralioides)

Photo: Brandon Wheeler
https://www.inaturalist.org/people/branwhee
(public domain)

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edited: 22.01.2024

Streblorrhiza speciosa Endl.

Phillip Island Glory Pea (Streblorrhiza speciosa)

The Phillip Island Glory Pea, aka. Flesh-colored Glory Pea, was endemic to Phillip Island in the Norfolk Islands; it is the sole member of its monotypic genus.

The species died out in the wild around 1830 due to introduced ungulates, however, it was kept in several botanical gardens for some time, however, all these cultivated plants seem to have subsequently disappeared as well.

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Depiction from: ‘Edward’s Botanical Register 27. 1841’

(public domain) 

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edited: 25.05.2021

Crudia bibundina Harms

Mount Cameroon Crudia (Crudia bibundina)

This species is restricted to Mt. Cameroon, Cameroon and is known from only two collections that both were made before 1988.

The species has not been recorded since and is believed to be possibly extinct.

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edited: 13.11.2021

Astragalus pseudocylindraceus Bornm.

Pseudocylindric Milkvetch (Astragalus pseudocylindraceus)  

The Pseudocylindric Milkvetch was described in 1915, the species was apparently endemic to a very small area in the valley of the Euphrates in the Kemaliye District, Erzincan Province in eastern Turkey. [1]

The species appears to have been restricted to habitats close to the Euphrates river and disappeared when the Keban Dam was built from 1966 to 1974, probably due to habitat loss by rising of the river’s water level. [2]

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References: 
[1] Zöhre Bulut; Hasan Yilmaz: The current situation of threatened endemic flora in Turkey: Kemaliye (Erzincan) case. Pakistan Journal of Botany 42(2): 711-719. 2010
[2] Munir Ozturk; Umit Kebapci; Salih Gucel; Esat Cetin E.; Ernaz Altundag: Biodiversity and land degradation in the lower Euphrates subregion of Turkey. Journal of Environmental Biology 33: 311-323. 2012

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edited: 18.09.2019

Astragalus kentrophyta var. douglasii Barneby

Douglas’ Thistle Milkvetch (Astragalus kentrophyta var. douglasii)  

The Thistle Milkvetch is a very thistle-like member of the legume family, the species includes around seven varieties which are distributed over a wide range of the southern USA. 

The variety discussed here was described in 1964, it was restricted to a small area on the Colombia River at the boundery of Umatilla County in Oregon and Walla Walla County in Washington, USA.

Douglas’ Thistle Milkvetch hasn’t been collected since 1883, its habitat having been destroyed by dam projects and the plant is now considered extinct.

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The photo below shows another variety, probably the nominate form.

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References: 
[1] Astragalus kentrophyta Gray var. douglasii Barneby. Field Guide to Selected Rare Vascular Plants of Washington. Washington Natural Heritage Program and U.S.D.I. Bureau of Land Management 2005

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Thistle Milkvetch (Astragalus kentrophyta); nominate form

Photo: Matt Lavin
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0

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edited: 19.09.2019

Phaseolus rimbachii Standl.

Rimbach’s Bean (Phaseolus rimbachii)  

Rimbach’s Bean is a somewhat enigmatic species, that is known from the type collection which was collected at an elevation of about 2800 m near the city of Riobamba in the Chimborazo Province, Ecuador at an unknown date. [?]  

The species was described in 1940, it was a up to 5 m tall climbing liana with the leaves having a conspicuously glaucous under surface.  

Rimbach’s Bean was never found again since, the type locality is now more or less destructed, so the species is most probably extinct.  

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edited: 22.03.2018

Acacia kingiana Maiden & Blakely

King’s Wattle (Acacia kingiana)

The King’s Wattle was described in 1928, it was endemic to Western Australia.

The species was a shrub of about 2 to 3 m height, like most of its kin it did not have leafes as a fuklly-grown plant but so-called phyllodes, leaf-shaped twigs, which in this species were about 0,1 cm long and 0,2 cm wide [which is a odd size in my opinion], and furthermore had yellow flowers.

The King’s Wattle is now most likely extinct.

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Two additional wattle species, Acacia mathuataensis A. C. Sm. from Vanua Levu, Fiji and Acacia prismifolia E. Pritz. from Western Australia were formerly thought to be extinct as well, but were both rediscovered in 2015 and 2018 respectively.

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edited: 06.02.2020

Sophora zeylanica Trimen

Ceylon Sophora (Sophora zeylanica)  

This species from the island of Sri Lanka appears in lists that deal with extinct plant species and is thus mentioned here. [1]  

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Unfortunately, I cannot say anything further about this species, it may indeed be extinct.  

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References:  

[1] The 2007 Red List of Threatened Fauna and Flora of Sri Lanka, Colombo, Sri Lanka. XIII+ 148 pp. IUCN Sri Lanka and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources 2007  

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Depiction from: ‘Henry Trimen: A Hand-Book to the Flora of Ceylon. London: Dulau & Co. 1893-1931’    

(public domain)  

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edited: 20.03.2018

Orbexilum stipulatum (Torr. & A. Gray) Rydb.

Falls-of-the-Ohio Snakeroot (Orbexilum stipulatum)

The Falls-of-the-Ohio Snakeroot, also known as Largestipule Leather-root, was restricted to Rock Island (or Rocky Island) in the so-called Falls of the Ohio, an area of rapids and rocky limestone outcrops in the Ohio River in Kentucky, USA.

The type locality was flooded in the 1920s by the creation of Dam No. 41 (known today as McAlpine Locks and Dam), thus, this species is now clearly extinct.

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The photo below shows a congeneric species, Sampson’s Snakeroot (Orbexilum pedunculatum (P. Miller) Rydberg), photographed in Kentucky, USA.

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Sampson’s Snakeroot (Orbexilum pedunculatum)

Photo: biomania
https://www.inaturalist.org/people/biomania
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

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edited: 22.01.2024

Astragalus subuliferus Boiss. & Kotschy ex Bunge

Sharp-pointed Milkvetch (Astragalus subuliferus)  

The Sharp-pointed Milkvetch was described in 1867, it was endemic to the Yumurtalik lagoon in the Adana Province, Turkey.

The species is now apparently considered extinct.

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Unfortunately I couldn’t find any additional information about this species.

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edited: 19.09.2019

Astragalus robbinsii var. robbinsii (Oakes) Gray

Robbins’ Milkvetch (Astragalus robbinsii var. robbinsii)  

Robbins’ Milkvetch was described in 1841, it includes around seven varieties which occur in northern North America, some have highly restricted ranges others are more common.

The nominate variety certainly was one of those with a rather restricted distributional area, it is known from limestone ledges on only a single site on the Winooski River in the town of Colchester in Chittenden County, Vermont, USA. This habitat was destroyed by the building of a dam in 1894, leading to the global extinction of this plant.

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References: 
[1] Nathaniel Lord Britton; Addison Brown: An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British possessions: from Newfoundland to the parallel of the southern boundary of Virginia, and from the Atlantic Ocean westward to the 102d meridian. New York: C. Scribner’s sons 1913

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Depiction from: ‘Nathaniel Lord Britton; Addison Brown: An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British possessions: from Newfoundland to the parallel of the southern boundary of Virginia, and from the Atlantic Ocean westward to the 102d meridian. New York: C. Scribner’s sons 1913’

(public domain)

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edited: 19.09.2019

Dalbergia confertiflora ssp. listeri Thoth

Lister’s Narrow-flowered Dahlbergia (Dalbergia confertiflora ssp. listeri)

Lister’s Narrow-flowered Dahlbergia was described in 1975, it is a large woody climbing plant that is apparently only known from the vicinity of Chittagong, the second-largest city of Bangladesh.

It has never been recorded again after its description and is considered likely extinct.

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This variety is not accepted by all botanists and is sometimes treated as a synonym of the nominate form of the Narrow-flowered Dahlbergia (Dalbergia confertiflora Benth.).

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References:

[1] M. Atiqur Rahman; M. Enamur Rashid: Status of endemic plants of Bangladesh and conservation management strategies. International Journal of Environment 2(1): 231-249. 2013

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edited: 16.05.2021

Vicia dennesiana H. C. Watson

Sao Miguel Vetch (Vicia dennesiana)  

This is a somewhat enigmatic species which was actually described from cultivated plants kept in the garden of Hewett Cottrell Watson, the species’ author.  

Some of these plants were also brought to the Royal Botanical Garden in Kew, Great Britain, but unfortunately all propagation efforts failed.  

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The Sao Miguel Vetch apparently was restricted to the island of São Miguel in the Azores, Portugal, where it was only ever recorded (sometimes between 1944 and 1949) from the Serra da Tronqueira. The only known population apparently was destroyed by a landslide, however, introduced grazing mammals may have played a much bigger role in its extinction.  

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Depiction from: ‘Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, Vol. 113, 1887’  

(public domain)

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edited: 29.05.2019

Aspalathus variegata Eckl. & Zeyh.

Variegated Aspalathus (Aspalathus variegata)

The Variegated Aspalathus was described in 1836; it was endemic to a small locality on the Cape Flats in southwestern South Africa, a area that now is taken by the city of Cape Town.

The species was last found in 1898 and is now extinct.

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References:

[1] N. A. Helme; T. H. Trinder-Smith: The endemic flora of the cape Peninsula, South Africa. South African Journal of Botany 72: 205-210. 2005

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edited: 14.11.2021

 

Ormosia howii Merr. & Chen

Hainan Ormosia (Ormosia howii)

The Hainan Ormosia is, or rather was, a 10 m tall tree endemic to the island of Hainan, China, that was found only two times, once in 1954 and a second time in 1957, both times in extremely small populations.

The species has not been found since and is very probably extinct now.

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edited: 02.05.2022

Tephrosia angustissima var. angustissima Shuttlw. ex Chapman

Narrowleaf Hoary Pea (Tephrosia angustissima var. angustissima)

This, the nominate variety of the Narrowleaf Hoary Pea, was restricted to a small area in Dade County, southern Florida, USA.

The plant was last seen sometime in the 1990s and is now considered possibly extinct.

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edited: 07.05.2021

Parkia parrii Horne ex Baker

Parr’s Parkia (Parkia parrii)

Parr’s Parkia was described in 1883, it is known only from the type collection that was allegedly made on the enigmatic ‘Parr’s Coffee Plantation’ somewhere along the Rewa River on the island of Viti Levu, Fiji, a locality that now cannot be traced anymore. 

According the the information accompanying the type, however, it was also found on the island of Vanua Levu.

The species was described as being an about 21 m tall tree with a 12 m tall trunk, the finely divided leaves are said to be about 30 cm long with six to eight opposite pairs of 10 to 12,5 cm long pinnae, which again bear about 1,6 to 1,9 cm long opposite leaflets.

The Fijian name was said to be vaivai, which is a generic name given to many legume species with finely divided leaves. [1]

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References:

[1] Helen C. Fortune Hopkins: The Indo-Pacific species of Parkia (Leguminosae: Mimosoideae). Kew Bulletin 49(2): 181-234. 1994

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edited: 10.05.2019