More armchair botanizing today. I was going to add to the Parry's Easter Daisy thread, but we're starting to talk about Townsendia in general, so I started this thread which features a rare Utah endemic, Townsendia aprica. I also uploaded a photo to the Image of the Day thread, as I had found a gorgeous photo that embodies Townsendia.
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=24.msg722#msg722
So, in my armchair travels, I revisited a surprising good web site, the US Forest Service homepage. It has lots of excellent educational information, and meandering links to all sorts of information (watch out, you can get lost for hours; I did). I have culled from my browsing some selected links... enjoy!
http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/index.shtml
US Forest Service - Rare Plants homepage:
http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/rareplants/index.shtml
Townsendia aprica - threatened Utah endemic - image
http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/rareplants/profiles/tep/townsendia_apri...
Townsendia aprica page
http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/rareplants/profiles/tep/townsendia_apri...
Last Chance Townsendia aprica Recovery Plan, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, published 1993.
A fascinating account of how they go about assessing endangered plants. It had a 10-year projection, which is obviously over by now, so one wonders what the status of this plant species is now.
http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plans/1993/930820.pdf
Utah Rare Plant Guide - travel down this path
http://www.utahrareplants.org/rpg_species.html?Potentilla_angelliae
This is a long listing of rare, threatened, or endangered plant species (many are endemic). Some species show a small thumbnail image, others don't, but don't worry about that, just click on each species name in the chart. A note about the user-interface on this chart... all the plant names are links, when clicking on one of them, a tiny window pops up in the upper left corner... the window is too small to show anything... just grab and stretch the lower right corner of the window diagonally downwards to view the whole page (see images below). Each species will display a 2-page overview of the plant, most with a good botanical illustration, some data, and one or more photos. There is a small "link-menu" at the top center, to display a page as 1 or 2 pages, and display as a PDF (which can then be downloaded if desired). Some pages have a "larger" and "smaller" button which can be used repeatedly to enlarge or zoom and image.
I find this sort of armchair botanical exploration fascinating. I have never seen the yellow form of Townsendia jonesii (var. lutea), but it's there among the list, or use this link to the PDF: http://www.utahrareplants.org/pdf/Townsendia_jonesii_var_lutea.pdf
Other plants in the list that caught my eye: Aquilegia loriae, Erigeron carringtoniae, Erigeron huberi, dwarf Iris pariensis, Lesquerella tumulosa, Parrya rydbergii (Panayoti, I threw this one in for you), many Penstemon, Physaria stylosa, Phlox opalensis (look at the color variation), check out Townsendia aprica again (this link shows different color forms, use link below), Viola frank-smithii.
Happy trails :D