Brook spike-primrose (Epilobium torreyi) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 2

COSEWIC Executive Summary

Brook Spike-primrose
Epilobium torreyi

Species information

Brook spike-primrose (Epilobium torreyi) is anerect, annual herb from a taproot. Its leaves are narrow, toothless or nearly so, and nearly stalkless. The lower leaves are oppositely arranged, and lack hairs, while the reduced upper leaves are alternate and hairy. The small, pink or white flowers are arranged in a leafy, terminal spike. The seeds, which lack the tuft of hairs typical of most species in the genus, are contained in cylindric, hairy, 4-chambered capsules.

Distribution

Globally, brook spike-primrose has been found from southern British Columbia to northwest California, east to Idaho and Nevada. In Canada, it has only been found in the vicinity of Victoria, British Columbia.

Habitat

In Canada, brook spike-primrose has been found in seasonally moist meadows and open sites that dry out during the summer.

Biology

Brook spike-primrose has cleistogamous flowers in which self-pollination occurs in the bud before the flower opens. It flowers and fruits in mid- to late summer and seeds probably germinate the following spring. The seeds of most species in this genus bear a fluffy coma that aids in wind dispersal, but seeds of brook spike-primrose lack a coma. Its capsules dehisce in the late fall and the seeds fall to the ground probably as the capsules are shaken during winter rains.

Population sizes and trends

Brook spike-primrose has been collected from two sites in Canada. One population has not been observed since 1966 and the other has not been observed since 1993. Neither site has been visited regularly and either may have been extirpated as recently as 2000.

Limiting factors and threats

The primary threat to brook spike-primrose in Canada comes from habitat alteration. This includes destruction and alteration of the habitat by residential and agriculture development, physical disturbance of sites by heavy equipment, invasion of sites by aggressive, alien invasive weeds and by natural encroachment of native Douglas-fir trees into open areas.

The nearest reported population is from Orcas Island, Washington. The site is approximately 16 km from the nearest point in Canada and 37 km from the nearest historic location in Canada. Brook spike-primrose is not known from elsewhere in the San Juan Islands, and the next nearest location appears to be in Thurston County, approximately 150 km to the south. There is little chance of seed coming from United States populations because the seeds lack adaptations for long-distance dispersal.

Special significance of the species

The seeds have been used as a food by some Aboriginal cultures in portions of the species’ range.

Existing protection or other status designations

Brook spike-primrose is not covered under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the Endangered Species Act (USA) or the IUCN Red Data Book. NatureServe ranks it globally as G5 (demonstrably widespread, abundant and secure), and it is ranked S1 (critically imperiled) in British Columbia (the only Canadian province or territory where it has been observed). British Columbiadoes not provide any legal protection for brook spike-primrose.

COSEWIC History

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) was created in 1977 as a result of a recommendation at the Federal-Provincial Wildlife Conference held in 1976. It arose from the need for a single, official, scientifically sound, national listing of wildlife species at risk. In 1978, COSEWIC designated its first species and produced its first list of Canadian species at risk. Species designated at meetings of the full committee are added to the list. On June 5th 2003, the Species at Risk Act (SARA) was proclaimed. SARA establishes COSEWIC as an advisory body ensuring that species will continue to be assessed under a rigorous and independent scientific process.

COSEWIC Mandate

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assesses the national status of wild species, subspecies, varieties, or other designatable units that are considered to be at risk in Canada. Designations are made on native species for the following taxonomic groups: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, arthropods, molluscs, vascular plants, mosses, and lichens.

COSEWIC Membership

COSEWIC comprises members from each provincial and territorial government wildlife agency, four federal entities (Canadian Wildlife Service, Parks Canada Agency, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and the Federal Biodiversity Information Partnership, chaired by the Canadian Museum of Nature), three non-government science members and the co-chairs of the species specialist subcommittees and the Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge subcommittee. The Committee meets to consider status reports on candidate species.

Definitions (2006)

Wildlife Species

A species, subspecies, variety, or geographically or genetically distinct population of animal, plant or other organism, other than a bacterium or virus, that is wild by nature and is either native to Canada or has extended its range into Canada without human intervention and has been present in Canada for at least 50 years.

Extinct (X)

A wildlife species that no longer exists.

Extirpated (XT)

A wildlife species no longer existing in the wild in Canada, but occurring elsewhere.

Endangered (E)

A wildlife species facing imminent extirpation or extinction.

Threatened (T)

A wildlife species likely to become endangered if limiting factors are not reversed.

Special Concern (SC) Footnotea

A wildlife species that may become a threatened or an endangered species because of a combination of biological characteristics and identified threats.

Not at Risk (NAR) Footnoteb

A wildlife species that has been evaluated and found to be not at risk of extinction given the current circumstances.

Data Deficient (DD) Footnotec

A category that applies when the available information is insufficient (a) to resolve a species’ eligibility for assessment or (b) to permit an assessment of the species’ risk of extinction.

 

Canadian Wildlife Service

The Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, provides full administrative and financial support to the COSEWIC Secretariat.

 

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