National Collection of Imperiled Plants

CPC National Collection Plant Profile

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Dieter Wilken

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CPC National Collection Plant Profile

Fremontodendron decumbens

Family:	Sterculiaceae
Common Name:	Pine Hill flannelbush
Author:	R.M. Lloyd
Growth Habit:	Shrub
CPC Number:	1952

Distribution
Protection
Conservation
References

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Photographer: Dieter Wilken
dwilken[at]sbbg.org
Image Owner: Personal

Fremontodendron decumbens is Not Sponsored

Primary custodian for this plant in the CPC National Collection of Endangered Plants is:

Regional Parks Botanic Garden

Fremontodendron decumbens

This species of flannelbush cannot self-pollinate but has a fascinating relation with the three native bee species that pollinate its flowers. The bees are attracted to the high levels of ultraviolet light the flowers reflect. The nectar they produce absorbs UV light (appearing darker to the bees) and then reflects some of it in visible wavelengths with the brightness proportional to the amount of nectar present. This allows the foraging bees to determine when another pollinator has recently visited a flower from a distance and increases the chance that the bee will visit flowers that have not been pollinated. (Boyd 1985)

Pine Hill Flannel Bush is a member of the cacao family (Sterculiaceae). Members of this family include the tropical and subtropical plants that are used to make cola, chocolate and various drugs. Some plants are also used as ornamental in garden plants. This family is noteworthy because of its evergreen leaves. The name Flannel Bush alludes to the fuzzy-feeling leaves of this particular plant. These fuzzy leaves have tiny hairs covering their whole surface, which keeps Fremontodendron decumbens from losing too much water from its leaves. This is a very important adaptation in the hot and drought-prone areas in California where this plant grows.

Distribution & Occurrence

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State Range

California

Habitat

Tops of rocky ridges and on scattered rock outcrops of gabbro in chaparral communities or in the ecotone between chaparral and woodland. (NatureServe 2001)

Distribution

Western El Dorado County, California (NatureServe 2001)

Number Left

One extended population at Pine Hill that is managed by the CA Dept. of Forestry. Another small population has been recorded south of Grass Valley (Nevada Co), CA. Regional Parks Botanical Garden has collected seed which is stored at RSA.

Protection

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Global Rank:	G1	11/15/2005	Guide to Global Ranks
Federal Status:		10/18/1996	Guide to Federal Status
Recovery Plan:	No

State/Area Protection

	State/Area	Rank	Status	Date
	California	S1.2	3

Conservation, Ecology & Research

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Ecological Relationships

Both the flower buds and the flowers themselves suffer high levels of damage from two species of moth larvae (only 10% of buds survive to become flowers and only half of all flowers survive to produce fruit). The fruit are fuzzy which deters these two species from feeding but a third undescribed species bores holes into the fruit to eat the seeds. Despite starting out with up to 5600 buds at the beginning of the process, most plants only produce 100-200 seeds in a growing season. These seeds are dropped into the surrounding litter and rodents consume 90% of new seeds each year. Harvester ants disperse these seeds which have a small bit of tissue, a caruncle, attached to their coat that the harvester ants eat. These ants take the seeds back to their mounds, eat the caruncle and toss them out to the area surrounding their mounds. This effectively disperses the seeds up to 25 feet from where they fall. The surviving seeds will germinate when they are heated by fire. (Boyd 1985)

Threats

Fire suppression (Boyd 1985)
Development
Road Construction
Trash Dumping
(NatureServe 2001)

Current Research Summary

� Walter Knight published an article on the successful cultivation of this species at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in 1996.
� Robert S. Boyd published a number of articles describing the fascinating reproductive biology of this species. (Boyd 1966, 1985, 1987, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2001)

Current Management Summary

� The largest population is protected by the Pine Hill Ecological Preserve although there have been attempts by the state to sell portions of it for development, the populations are still relatively intact due to pressure from concerned citizens and botanists.

Research Management Needs

� Research needed includes the determination of habitat requirements for the species pollinators (solitary bees).
� Management needs include managing for these pollinator populations and developing/maintaining a fire regime to promote seed germination for the species.

Ex Situ Needs

Off-site study needed for this species includes determining its genetic diversity.

References

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Books (Single Authors)

Meyer, S. 2002. Woody Plant Seed Manual-Fremontodendron. U.S. Forest Service.

Books (Sections)

Kartesz, J.T. 1999. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the U.S., Canada, and Greenland. In: Kartesz, J.T.; Meacham, C.A., editors. Synthesis of the North American Flora, Version 1.0. North Carolina Botanical Garden. Chapel Hill, NC.

Conference Proceedings

Boyd, B. The effects of controlled burning on three rare plants. Conservation and Management of Rare and Endangered Plants; 5 - 8 November 1986; Sacramento, Calif. In: Elias, T., editor. 1987. California Native Plant Society.

Electronic Sources

(2002). Species Accounts and Baseline. Bureau of Reclamation Mid-Pacific Region, Public Affairs Office, Sacramento CA 95825-1898. http://www.mp.usbr.gov/cvpia/3404c/docs/fwsbio-part3.pdf. Accessed: 2002.

CalPhotos. (2002). CalPhotos: Berkely Digital Library Project. University of California, Berkeley. http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/photos/. Accessed: 2002.

CDFG. (2002). California's Plants and Animals, Threatened and Endangered Plants. List and Species Accounts. California Department of Fish and Game, Habitat Conservation Planning Branch. http://www.dfg.ca.gov/hcpb/species/t_e_spp/teplant/teplanta.shtml. Accessed: 2002.

NatureServe. (2008). NatureServe Explorer: An online encyclopedia of life [web application]. [Internet].Version 7.0. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. http://www.natureserve.org/explorer. Accessed: (June 17, 2008).

USFWS. (2002). Some Threatened & Endangered Plants Found Mainly in California. Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. http://sacramento.fws.gov/es/plant_spp_accts/acctplant.htm. Accessed: 2002.

Journal Articles

Berg, R.Y. 1966. Seed Dispersal of Dendromecon: Its Ecologic, Evolutionary, and Taxonomic Significance. American Journal of Botany. 53, 1: 61-73.

Boyd, R.S. 1985. The Pine Hill Fremontia. Fremontia. 13, 1: 3-6.

Boyd, R.S. 1994. Pollination Biology Of The Rare Shrub Fremontodendron decumbens (Sterculiaceae). Madro�o. 41, 4: 277.

Boyd, R.S. 1996. Ant-Mediated Seed Dispersal of the Rare Chaparral Shrub Fremontodendron decumbens (Sterculiaceae). Madro�o. 43, 2: 299.

Boyd, R.S. 2001. Ecological Benefits of Myrmecochory for the Endangered Chaparral Shrub Fremontodendron decumbens (Sterculiaceae). American Journal of Botany. 88, 2: 234-241.

Boyd, R.S.; Serafini, L.L. 1992. Reproductive attrition in the rare chaparral shrub Fremontodendron decumbens Lloyd (Sterculiaceae). American Journal of Botany. 79, 11: 1264-1272.

Howard, A.Q. 1978. Pine Hill--A Case in Point. Fremontia. 5, 4: 3-5.

Knight, W. 1972. The Horticulture of Pine Hill Flannel Bush. California Horticultural Journal. 33, 1: 32-33.

USFWS. 1976. Proposed Endangered Status for 1700 U.S. Plants. Federal Register. 41: 24523-24572.

USFWS. 1996. Determination of endangered status for four plants and threatened status for one plant from the central Sierran foothills of California. Federal Register. 61, 203: 54346-54358.

USFWS. 2000. Notice of Availability of an Amendment to the Draft Recovery Plant for Gabbro Soil Plants of the Central Sierra Nevada Foothhills for Review and Comment. Federal Register. 65, 230: 71117-71118.

Reports

Little, E.L., Jr. 1979. Checklist of United States trees (native and naturalized): Agriculture Handbook No. 541. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Forest Service. p.375.

Sanguamphai. 1989. 1988 Annual Report on the Status of California's State Listed Threatened and Endangered Plants and Animals. State of California, Department of Fish and Game.

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This profile was updated on 3/4/2010