Arctomecon humilis Coville
Dwarf Bearclaw Poppy Conservation History

Promises and commitments made by the state of Utah were broken in connection with this species, and the state agency responsibile for managing its habitat, SITLA, has acted in a closed door fashion and in the nature of an aggressive real estate developer that largely ignores best management practices despite claims and statutory responsibilities to the contrary. Current or former state employees with knowledge relating to SITLA transgressions towards the environment are encouraged to contact Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) .

These are listed in chronological order. Links will open in a new browser window. Just close the window to come back to this page. Most images are in the 50-60K range and are sized to be able to print them to a printer.

While not named until 1892 by Frederick Coville, the first collection of the species was made in 1874 by Dr. Charles C. Parry (during one of his few visits - and this his first - to Utah and while he and his wife camped from about April 5 through June 25 with the Joseph E. Johnson family of St. George). At the time of collection on May 8, 1874, Dr. Parry thought that the plant was the same species as collected by John C. Fremont some 30 years earlier (in 1844) in what would become the Las Vegas, Nevada area (but then a part of the California territory) and which had been named Arctomecon californica. In Parry's botanical observations however he noted that the southwestern Utah plants were different than A. californica in having less hairy leaves, four rather than six valved capsules, and being more cespitose in habit (Parry, 1875).

Just prior to Parry's encounter with the poppy, that day he had first proceeded in a southwesterly direction towards the Beaver Dam mountains (the ultimate destination) and had crossed the Santa Clara at its mouth which Parry describes as "flooded with melted snow and turbid from the dissolved mud of its lower alluvial banks." He then proceeded "up" a dry wash in the general direction of the mountains and on a sandy bed he noted the fragrant white flowers of Purshia mexicana. Parry commented on the adjoining uplands as being "composed of various colored clay and sandy knolls, often fantastically washed, and intersected by miniature ravines and deep basins," these slopes containing Larrea and Psorothamnus fremontii (Parry, 1875). He then observed the white-flowering poppy.

Parry initially describes the poppy occurrence as a "single locality" but then says, "In the two localities where found it grew in a loose marly soil, strongly impregnated with gypsum." (Parry 1875, pages 139 and 140). Parry also observed plants with fruit and described them as "forming a basket in which the shining black seeds lie loosely like so many eggs."

The Bloomington area southwest of St. George (and west of I-15 and the Virgin River) is most likely where Parry encountered the species.

Parry's discovery of what would be named Petalonyx parryi, also a gypsophile and which sometimes grows with A. humilis, did not happen until later in 1874 (June, Parry. no. 75) and was closer to St. George, and Parry noticed it only at one now destroyed location. The primary Utah habitat of P. parryi east of the town of Washington and once described as locally common has been largely and systematically lost as well.

While P. parryi occurs elsewhere, Arctomecon humilis only occurs in Utah growing within roughly about a 5 to 10 mile radius half circle around/below the city of St. George (west/south/east) and typically at about an elevation of 3,000 ft.

A. humilis was initially not realized to be a different species until Frederick Coville re-examined Parry's specimens (and the plant species was therefore not named until after Parry's death in 1890).

The only three known species of Arctomecon (only one of which occurs in Utah) have therefore been named and known as such since 1892. All are gypsophiles.

The species remained obscure having somehow been missed by Marcus Jones during his first full year (1880) in Utah and during the period March 26, 1880 until approx. April 19 of that year (prime time for bearclaw poppy flowering) and even though Jones botanized below the temple (where Parry found Petalonyx parryi) and on the Santa Clara River. Jones however did finally collect Arctomecon humilis during the period May 21-23 of 1918 near the end of his botanical career in Utah (Lenz, 1986 - see p. 373).

Ivar Frederick Tidestrom collected the species on May 5, 1919.

The May 9, 1940 collection of the species by Peebles and Parker that led to it being reported as occurring in Arizona in floras published there from 1942 to 1960 was almost certainly made in Utah, probably at White Dome in Washington County, Utah (Frates 2018).

Dwight Ripley and Rupert Barneby collected it on June 10, 1941 and again May 3, 1942; and with Noel and Pat Holmgren, Barneby would be a part of its collection again on May 26, 1979, some 37+ years later (one day prior to that, the Holmgrens and Barneby collected specimens that would form the type of Astragalus holmgreniorum, another rare plant and federally listed species).

Duane Atwood collected it in 1969 and in the 1970's (sometimes with others).

The Utah portion of I-15 construction to replace old US Route 91 south of St. George began with a contract to grade the road in November of 1960. The Utah section was completed in the early 1960's. This was followed by completion of the difficult section through the Virgin River Gorge in 1972.

There is little question that the original I-15 construction directly impacted dwarf bearclaw poppy habitat and split the populations.

As a result of I-15 construction, the population of Washington County doubled in the 1970's: "The new freeway was a significant factor in the doubling of the county’s population from 1970 to 1980. One of the first spin-offs of the new road was the development of Bloomington, a golf course community that attracted retirees, golf tourists and second home owners. The development established a pattern of real estate projects in which residential lots surrounded a common attraction, which in most cases was a golf course." (Quote is from a Washington County page on www.utahsdixie.com but no longer actively available.)

The dwarf bearclaw poppy once grew relatively prolifically in the Bloomington area just to the southwest of St. George, and in the hills to the west of Bloomington. (As noted above, the Bloomington area is most likely where C.C. Parry first encountered the species). The explosion of real estate projects in Bloomington in the 1970's following I-15 construction further significantly reduced the poppy's limited habitat and formed overwhelming obstacles to pollen transfer. (SunRiver construction which began in 1998 and which also adjoins I-15 and other projects/corridors continue to do the same). These developments and related impacts by an increasing population led to the need for federal protection.

Citation page: 41 FR 24523 24572

Dr. Stanley Welsh of BYU in March 1978 Great Basin Naturalist recommends listing as endangered.

Dr. Duane Atwood of the USFS in August 1978 Mentzelia indicates that unless this species is listed, it will become extinct

Later in the A Utah Flora series, Dr. Welsh stated (referring initially to the rare species of the genus Arctomecon):

Listed throughout its entire range; known only from Utah.

Citation page: 44 FR 64250 64252