Lindley’s false silverpuffs (Uropappus lindleyi) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 9

Special Significance of the Species

Uropappus lindleyi is not well known in the horticultural trade, but seeds from the wild are presently collected and sold by at least one native plant nursery in California (Payne 2004). It is not known to have other cultural, medicinal or spiritual uses.

The extant B.C. populations are at the northern extent of the main geographic range of U. lindleyi and are 300 km north of U.S. populations. Peripheral populations are sometimes genetically and morphologically divergent from central populations and may have an evolutionary and ecological significance out of proportion to the percentage of the species they represent (Mayr 1982, Lesica and Allendorf 1995). The protection of genetically distinct peripheral populations may be important for the long-term survival of the species as a whole (Lesica and Allendorf 1995). Research on genetics of most British Columbia native plants, in relation to more southern populations, has not been conducted. In one case, however, the populations of a similar species, Microseris bigelovii in British Columbia, which are disjunct from the distributional centre of M. bigelovii in California, were confirmed to be genetically distinct (van Heusden and Bachmann 1992).

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