PLEASE NOTE: Not all COSEWIC reports are currently available on the SARA Public Registry. Most of the reports not yet available are status reports for species assessed by COSEWIC prior to May 2002. Other COSEWIC reports not yet available may include those species assessed as Extinct, Data Deficient or Not at Risk. In the meantime, they are available on request from the COSEWIC Secretariat.
Toothcup is a low growing annual plant in the loosestrife family (Lythraceae). Its small flowers are sessile, and usually solitary in the leaf axils. Flowers usually have 4 white or pink petals up to 1 mm long. In Canada, Toothcup is at the northern limit of its North American range. Populations at the edge of a species’ range may be genetically distinct.
This annual plant is known from just two local subpopulations in the Southern Interior of British Columbia. Some locations have been lost as a result of shoreline development; at present, this species is limited by the availability of suitable seasonally wet sites, and threatened by invasive exotic plant species.
Under Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA), the foremost function of COSEWIC is to "assess the status of each wildlife species considered by COSEWIC to be at risk and, as part of the assessment, identify existing and potential threats to the species".
COSEWIC held two Wildlife Species Assessment Meetings in this reporting year (October, 2014 to September, 2015) from November 23 to November 28, 2014 and from April 27 to May 1, 2015. During the current reporting period, COSEWIC assessed the status or reviewed the classification of 56 wildlife species.
The wildlife species assessment results for the 2014-2015 reporting period include the following:
Special Concern: 21
Data Deficient: 1
Not at Risk: 1
Of the 56 wildlife species examined, COSEWIC reviewed the classification of 40 that had been previously assessed. The review of classification for 24 of those wildlife species resulted in a confirmation of the same risk status as the previous assessment.