ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE

PROTECTION STATUS: Endangered

YEAR PLACED ON LIST: 1998

CRITICAL HABITAT: Approximately 73 acres in California's San Diego County designated in 2006

RECOVERY PLAN: None

RANGE: Concentrated in the Miramar area of San Diego County. Another closely related species recently taxonomically split from the willowy monardella is also rare in the United States, but extends south into Baja California, Mexico. This taxonomic split effectively reduced the numbers of the true willowy monardella to even fewer populations.

THREATS: Urban development, sand and gravel mining, off-road vehicle activity, trampling, trash dumping, erosion, fire, road construction, hydrological alterations, and invasion of nonnative species

POPULATION TREND: This plant is severely declining; currently, there are 10 known occurrences of willowy monardella in San Diego County. To date, occurrences of the plant have been extirpated by transportation projects and industrial development.

Photo of willowy monardella courtesy Sabrina West, USFWS