Posted on 05/31/2005 10:11:44 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
AVALON, Calif. - A species of grass not seen since 1912 has been discovered growing on Santa Catalina Island off the Southern California coast, botanists say.
The plant, California dissanthelium, had long been thought extinct until a botanist recently spotted the wispy, 7-inch-tall tufts while hiking in Cottonwood Canyon.
"I saw a little grass, and I thought, 'Hmm, that doesn't look familiar,'" said Jenny McCune, an assistant plant ecologist for the Catalina Island Conservancy.
McCune found the grass on March 30 in an area of the canyon hit by fire two years ago. Scientists confirmed the plant's identity last month.
"It's quite a thrill to have something you thought was gone forever come back to life again," said Lyn McAfee, president of the California Native Plant Society's Pasadena chapter.
The grass species was first identified on Catalina Island by botanist William Gambel in 1847. It was then noted on an island off the coast of Baja California in 1875 and on San Clemente Island in 1903. But after those sightings, no one had seen it since 1912.
"It's very serendipitous," McCune said. "It's about being in the right place at the right time and having an eye for things you don't recognize."
Earlier this month, student botanist Michael Park made a similar find while hiking at Mount Diablo State Park in the San Francisco Bay Area. He rediscovered Mount Diablo buckwheat, last seen in 1936.
This is very cool. Leaving aside environmental rhetoric for the moment, as an amateur botanist I think it would be really exciting to come across an unusual plant and discover that it was a long lost species.
I hope they find some carrier pigeons to go with it.
Very cool find. Now close off those portions of the island to all human traffic to preserve this endagered species.
They were all for the ESA when it destroyed whole logging towns in the name of protecting the Spotted Owl.
I bet they don't feel the same when it affects THEM.
Can you smoke this stuff? </ capitalist>
I wonder how many homes will have to remain unbuilt to protect the species?
Carrier pigeons? Heck..I'm holdin out hope for the T-rex!
And they complain about us not finding bin Laden.
They must know there's oil there.
I hope they find a dinosaur eating it!
Excuse me, which pigeon species went extinct, carrier or passenger?
Passenger pigeons?
Always nice when something thought lost is found again. That said, around here we would call it a weed.
Passenger pigeon. Too difficult to ride.......
Last week it was the buckwheat, now this........and the week before that the Laotion Rock Rat.......
Pigeons are too small to carry passengers. They can only carry coconuts. Or is that swallows?
African or European?
Yes, it's only a cut-down version of the cargo pidgeon. Heh heh heh...
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