The following Participating Institutions are custodians for this species in the CPC National Collection:
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden
The conservation of Chlorogalum purpureum var. purpureum is fully sponsored.
Dieter Wilken, Ph.D. contributed to this Plant Profile.
Purple amole is a bulbous perennial with 3-7 basal spreading leaves. Each plant produces a central naked inflorescence 25-50 cm tall, which bears 7-30 flowers. Purple amole has a fragmented distribution with less than 500 documented sites or "populations" distributed within 4-5 disjunct areas. About a third of the populations each have less than 100 individuals. Most of the largest "populations", each composed of over 1,000 plants, occur in an area of about 90 hectares in northern San Luis Obispo County. Much of the fragmentation, which occurs in Monterey County, can be attributed to extensive cultivation and grazing during the late 1800s, exacerbated by continued grazing and military training during the last 50 years.
Distribution & Occurrence
Purple amole generally occurs on thin, rocky to gravelly clay soils of open sites in oak savanna, grasslands, and occasionally chaparral. Common associates include other bulbous perennials and late spring to early summer annuals. (USFWS 2000)
|Perhaps 300,000 plants are known to exist, but over 230,000 are restricted to an area of about 90 hectares on Camp Roberts, San Luis Obispo County. The remaining plants are distributed as patches or colonies over a much larger area in Fort Hunter Liggett, Monterey County. (USFWS 2000)|
Conservation, Ecology & Research
Analyses of genetic variation at several hierarchical levels, including comparisons of disjunct populations and variation within large and small local populations.
Relationship of germination and early establishment to substrate composition and disturbance, and competition from noxious weeds.
Hoover, R. 1940. A monograph of the genus Chlorogalum. Madroo. 5: 137-147.
Jernstedt, J.A. 1980. UV absorption by flowers of Chlorogalum liliaceae. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 107, 2: 163-171.
USFWS. 1998. Proposed Threatened Status for Chlorogalum purpureum (Purple Amole), a plant from the South Coast Ranges of California. Federal Register. 62, 60: 15158-15164.
USFWS. 2000. Determination of threatened status of Chlorogalum pupureum (purple amole) a rare plant from the South Coast Ranges of California. Federal Register. 65, 54: 14878-14888.
USFWS. 2001. Proposed Designation of Critical Habitat for Chlorogalum purpureum, a Plant From the South Coast Ranges of California. Federal Register. 66, 217: 56508-56530.