A thank you to Dave Ingram for sharing today’s image to conclude the series on “Biodiversity of the Pacific Northwest”. Dave contributed it via the Botany Photo of the Day Flickr Pool (original image). To see more of Dave’s photography and natural history writings (with a particular emphasis on the Pacific Northwest), visit his web site at Dave Ingram’s Natural History Blog.
Yellow sand-verbena is restricted to the coastal areas of British Columbia to California. Roughly twenty species of Abronia are recognized, all from the USA and adjacent Canada and Mexico. Abronia latifolia is one of two species occurring in Canada, the other being Abronia umbellata (of the latter species, some subspecies are of conservation concern).
A moth species that depends on Abronia latifolia, Copablepharon fuscum (or sand-verbena moth) is being petitioned for inclusion under the US Endangered Species Act (it is already considered endangered in Canada). Copablepharon fuscum is monophagous throughout its entire life cycle, i.e., it only eats Abronia latifolia at all stages of its life. Declining populations of Abronia latifolia due to invasive species, land development and recreational use need to be addressed if the moth species is to survive.
Botanical / Art Resource Link: Eric Hunt of OrchidPhotos.org (who regular BPotD readers will know as Eric in S.F.) sent along this gem of a web site to me: Inside Insides, subtitled “Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Foods”. Hard to say which MRI is my favourite, but I’m leaning towards “mushrooms”.