One of Utah's rarest plant species, and one of the rarer endemic vascular plant species globally, Phacelia argillacea was federally listed as endangered in September 1978 and is currently (in 2014) our oldest listed species (there was another species prematurely listed prior that year that was later delisted, otherwise this would also be our oldest ESA plant species ever listed). And it is unlikely that will change any time soon due to its severe rarity (known from two populations; originally thought to consist of only perhaps 200 plants, an additional nearby location has only increased that number to an estimated 400 plants in 2014). It is not unusual for listed plant species to have increased population estimates once they are more intensely surveyed and studied, but it is remarkable how very few additional plants have been found in connection with this species in the now 35+ years since it has been listed. And this shows why rare plants need attention over a very long timeframe and they can't necessarily easily nor immediately "recover." The ESA, despite the non-federal ownership of the habitat of this species, has helped to ensure that it has not become extinct in our lifetimes and under our watch; but the potential inability of this species to "recover" any time in the foreseeable future is not a failure of the ESA.The recovery plan (normally required once a species is listed although not all of them have one) signed off in April of 1982 called for placing cages over some of the plants to try to maximize seed production and minimize domestic and wildlife grazing. It also called for private attempts to secure the habitat. Even though in 1988 the recovery plan had still never been funded, two or three cages were placed over about 15 plants by mid-1988 including the one pictured above (the plant pictured is inside one of these cages in situ; the top of the cage must have been open since I did not move the cage in taking this picture; note the netting over the plant behind this one which must have related to an ongoing pollination study that year; it was later determined that the species indeed requires outcrossing to produce seed as is commonly the case with rare flowering plants).The plant in flower here was not at its best and somewhat remarkable as little else was in flower and I was not expecting to find it in flower. Thought initially to be a winter annual, the plant is in fact a biennial that can flower more than once in its second year if there is sufficient moisture. And perhaps 1988 was one of those years as this second year plant does indeed appear to have flowered earlier that year (sometime from late May to late June/early July probably). Plants of this species have been observed to be in flower as late as mid-October.The Nature Conservancy (with also advocacy and related support from the Utah Native Plant Society) was able to acquire a small piece of its habitat which became TNC's first Utah rare plant preserve by about this time. In 2014, its second location is on private property which is currently up for sale.August 4, 1988, Utah County, Utah, approx. 6400 ft. elev.
