Boggs Lake hedge hyssop – State Wildlife Action Plan

Boggs Lake hedge hyssop

Photo Credit: Oregon Department of Agriculture

Boggs Lake hedge hyssop is a semi-aquatic annual with erect, striate stems 2-10 cm high, stout, tubular, and glabrous below, slender above, and glandular-pubescent in the inflorescence. Leaves are opposite, each pair arranged on the stem at right angles to the pair above and below, the lowermost linear-lanceolate and 1-2 cm long, the upper reduced, obovate, rounded or emarginate, and 2-5 mm long. Flowers are few and borne on slender, erect, glandular-pubescent pedicels lacking bracts. Sepals are unequal, the lower two distinct, 4-6 mm long, oblong, obtuse, and emarginate, the upper three fused for 1/3 their length or more, the middle lobe emarginate, broader and longer than the lateral two. The corolla is tubular and 5-lobed, 6-8 mm long, the lobes 1-2 mm long, the upper pair yellow and fused nearly to the tip, the lower three white with deeper sinuses. The corolla tube is yellow, somewhat curved, quadrate, exceeding the calyx, and pilose with gland-tipped hairs on the external surface and a few simple hairs within. Stamens 2, with short, slender filaments attached approximately midway on the tube below the upper pair of corolla lobes. The capsule is pear-shaped, about equaling the persistent calyx.

Overview

  • Species Common Name Boggs Lake hedge hyssop
  • Species Scientific Name Gratiola heterosepala
  • Federal Listing Status Species of Concern
  • State Listing Status Threatened

Ecoregions

    Special needs

    Boggs Lake hedge hyssop is restricted to seasonally wet habitats. This species typically occurs in shallow water, mud, or damp soils at edges of lakes and vernal pools, generally around 5360 feet altitude. Occupied wetlands are often surrounded by sagebrush flats.

    Limiting factors

    Disturbance by grazing is among potential threats to this species. Habitat conversion or development that changes the local hydrologic regime are also threats to this species.

    Data gaps

    Evaluate the impacts of cattle grazing. Develop propagation and reintroduction protocols. Trends and natural fluctuations in population size are not well understood.

    Conservation actions

    The only known Oregon populations occur on Bureau of Land Management lands. Monitor the existing populations. Survey for suitable habitat for establishment of new populations. Protect and restore vernal pool habitat. Coordinate with California Dept of Fish and Wildlife on rangewide recovery actions.

    Key reference or plan

    A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Recovery Plan for vernal pool ecosystems of California and Southern Oregon was released in 2005 and addresses conservation needs of Boggs Lake hedge hyssop (https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/Vernal%20Pool%20Ecosystem%20Final%20Recovery%20Plan.pdf)