Aliciella cliffordii (Clifford's Gilia)

Aliciella cliffordii (Clifford's Gilia)

Photograph by Steve O'Kane (2012)
Family
POLEMONIACEAE
Scientific Name with Author
Aliciella cliffordii J.M. Porter
Synonyms
NONE
Common Name
Clifford's Gilia
Agency Status
USFWS State of NM USFS BLM Navajo Nation State Rank Global Rank R-E-D Code NMRPTC Status Strategy Status
S1 G1 2-1-2 R SS
Rare Plant Conservation Scorecard Summary
Overall Conservation Status Documented Threats Actions Needed
WEAKLY CONSERVED

No Information

Status surveys on abundance, distribution and threats
County Map
Counties
Description
Taprooted, glandular pubescent, short-lived perennial with a well-developed basal rosette of leaves; stems 10-90 cm tall, freely and divaricately branching; basal leaves entire, to coarsely toothed, to once-pinnatifid, 1.2-5 cm long, 1-4.5 mm wide; lower stem leaves entire and linear to occasionally pinnatifid, reduced in size upward, 1-18 mm long; inflorescence a loosely open cymose-panicle; calyx cylindrical to campanulate, 3-4.7 mm long; corolla 6-18 mm long, blue to nearly white, funnelform to salverform, tube 5.5-12 mm long, corolla lobes narrowly oblanceolate, 3-5.5 mm long; stamens equally inserted in the upper tube; style well exserted to included; fruit a capsule, 3-5 mm long, 2.3-2.9 mm wide, ovoid; seed 1.8-2.2 mm long, pale gray-brown. Flowers May through early August.
Similar Species
Aliciella haydenii, which is widely scattered throughout the Four Corners region, is very similar in most vegetative aspects, but its corolla is magenta when fresh and its corolla lobes are broadly oblanceolate and larger, 3.5 - 9 mm long, 2 -4.2 mm wide.
Distribution
New Mexico: San Juan County, Beautiful Mountain and west of Shiprock; Arizona, Apache County, eastern slopes of the Lukachukai and Chuska mountains.
Habitat
Generally red, sandy or clay soils in badlands of the Wingate Formation and the Owl Rock Member of the Chinle Formation. Plants grow in Utah juniper-pinion pine and ponderosa pine communities from 1,525 - 1,980 m (5,000 - 6,500 ft).
Remarks
The specific epithet honors Arnold Clifford, important plant collector in the Four Corners region and the Navajo Nation. Aliciella cliffordii is endemic to a small area of the Navajo Nation in northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona.

Aliciella cliffordii is mostly pollinated by beeflies (Bombilius lancifer) while the closely related A. haydenii is pollinated by hawk moths. Porter (2011) states, "While A. cliffordii seems technically weak if considering the morphological features alone, the different pollination system and geographic disjunction is consistent with a hypothesis of peripatric speciation, involving a change in pollination mechanisms."

Conservation Considerations
A narrow endemic, but current land uses do not significantly threaten its habitat. It may occasionally by impacted by road maintenance.
Important Literature

Heil, K.D., S.L. O’Kane, L. Reeves and A. Clifford. 2012 (In Press). Four Corners flora. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis, Missouri.

*Porter, J.M. 2011. Two new Aliciella species and a new subspecies in Ipomopsis (Polemoniaceae) from the western United States of America. Phytotaxa 15:15-25.

Information Compiled By
Kenneth D. Heil 2012

For distribution maps and more information, visit Natural Heritage New Mexico