Pink sand-verbena (Abronia umbellata) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 7

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Population Sizes and Trends

Abronia umbellata has been collected, historically, at three sites in British Columbia with the last observation in 2001 at Clo-oose Bay (Table 1). Field surveys in 2000 consisted of low-level flight by helicopter over 60 km of beaches, most of which were unsuitable habitat. All potential beaches were marked on maps and suitable sites were visited on foot. The aerial view of plants at the Clo-oose Beach site confirmed that the presence of plants could be confirmed by means of a low-level flight survey. The Clo-oose Bay site and all sand beaches within the area over a distance of 20 km were again searched by Douglas and Smith in 2003.

The counts of two and three plants at the same location at Clo-oose Bay, in 2000 and 2001, respectively, are the only counts known. The latter plants were washed away at the end of each growing season. Plants were also absent in 2003. It is likely that the seed bank within the precarious beach habitat rarely produces large numbers of plants in any given year due to the harsh environment.