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Sibara filifolia
Conservation status
Endangered (ESA)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Brassicales
Family:	Brassicaceae
Genus:	Sibara
Species:	S. filifolia
Binomial name
Sibara filifolia Greene
Synonyms
Arabis filifolia

Sibara filifolia, the Santa Cruz Island winged rockcress or Santa Cruz Island rockcress, is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. It is endemic to the Channel Islands of California, where it is now known from a few occurrences on San Clemente Island and one population on Catalina Island.

It was once present on Santa Cruz Island, and perhaps other Channel Islands, but these occurrences were extirpated by feral goats and pigs. The plant was feared extinct until small remaining occurrences were discovered in 1986. A 1995 estimate of the total remaining population was 500 individuals. The plant became a federally listed endangered species of the United States in 1997, along with Cercocarpus traskiae and Lithophragma maximum, two other rare Channel Islands plants.

Description

Sibara filifolia is an annual herb producing a hairless, sometimes waxy stem up to around 30 centimeters in maximum height. The leaves are very narrow and almost strandlike, measuring less than a millimeter wide, and growing about 1.5 centimeters long. The flowers each have four spoon-shaped lavender petals a few millimeters long. The fruit is a flattened, elongated silique up to 4 centimeters long containing tiny seeds.

Distribution and habitat

Sibara filifolia grows in the coastal sage scrub of two islands off the coast of southern California.

References

1. NRCS. "Sibara filifolia". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 12 November 2015.
2. McGlaughlin, M. E., L. E. Wallace, and K. Helenurm. (2008). Isolation of microsatellite loci from the endangered plant Sibara filifolia (Brassicaceae). Molecular Ecology Resources 8 367-69.
3. ^ Center for Plant Conservation
4. California Native Plant Society Rare Plant Profile
5. USFWS. Determination of endangered status for three plants from the Channel Islands of California. Federal Register 62:153 August 8, 1997.

External links

• Jepson Manual Treatment
• USDA Plants Profile
• Flora of North America
• Photo gallery

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• ESA endangered species
• Brassicaceae
• Endemic flora of California
• Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands
• Natural history of the Channel Islands of California
• Plants described in 1887
• Brassicales stubs