By Tony Hicks –
An official with the environmental group Save Mount Diablo recently made a startling discovery on the mountain: a third known population of the critically endangered Mount Diablo buckwheat, also known among good spellers as Eriogonum truncatum.
The discovery was made in August by Save Mount Diablo’s education and outreach associate Denise Castro. The known population of Mount Diablo buckwheat currently consists of fewer than 100 plants.
“It was almost too good to be true,” Castro said in a statement. “My heart skipped a beat the moment it dawned on me that I could potentially be looking at a new population of Mount Diablo buckwheat.
“I tried my hardest not to freak out, but my heart and mind were racing,” she said. “The little pink flowers looked too familiar. My gut screamed yes — this is it!”
Castro was removing invasive stinkwort on one of Save Mount Diablo’s properties “and as my eyes were scanning the land for my target, they got caught on something rather odd,” she said.
The Mount Diablo buckwheat flower, which was believed extinct from the 1930s until being re-discovered in 2005, has been spotted on the Mangini Ranch property on the mountain’s north side, as well as another area on the mountain, which is the only known place it grows. Put together, there’s less than an acre of buckwheat left.
It’s not Castro’s first discovery.
In 2021, she discovered the only blooming population of rare fire poppies from the entire 2020 396,000-acre SCU Lightning Complex fire footprint in the Diablo Range, in a completely new location.
Castro — an experienced botanist and environmental educator — had only two weeks earlier joined the Mount Diablo Buckwheat Working Group to collect seeds from the endangered plant at one of the other two known populations for future reintroduction purposes.
“I held my breath as I carefully maneuvered my way closer,” she said. “The most important clue that made me immediately stop in my tracks was that I was looking at a stringy plant growing on a fresh shale landslide, and it looked very similar to the population I had collected seed from.”
She couldn’t wait to tell her supervisor, Sean Burke, Save Mount Diablo’s land programs director.
“I hurried back to my gear and fumbled around for my phone, barely able to hold my excitement in. He answered and the first thing I said was ‘Did you know we have Mount Diablo buckwheat on (one of our conserved lands)?’ He went quiet for a second before responding with, ‘Not that I know of.’ It was all too much for me. I was ready to explode with whoops of joy and start dancing right there and then.”
Two days later the discovery was verified by the proper expert. Mount Diablo has a third population of endangered Mount Diablo buckwheat.
Not something I care about but wow this guy literally had an orgasm over it.
Wow big deal. Castro is so cartoonishly dramatic. “Her heart skipped a beat”. This will be used to cordon off more land from you filthy CO2 factories that cause CLIMATE HOAX and justify more regulation.
Nice propaganda story. These people are so anti human it’s sick.
“I scurried back to my gear and fumbled around for my phone” Hollywood baby Hollywood.
I love this!
Good for her. I admire people that are willing to get out and pull weeds.
It’s also cool to see how much there is we don’t know about our own back yards.
Years ago, and I mean years ago, back in 1980 or so, my Hubby and I were walking about up on Mt. Diablo., I started to pick flowers, about 8 different kinds to make a little bouquet. Then someone came by and told me to stop since I was not allowed to pick them. It was my first visit there and didn’t know the “rules”. Who knows, I might have picked a critically endangered Mount Diablo buckwheat.
Put them back Roz…reminds me of my Grandfather. He always had a beautiful yard and one day as a kid I picked a rose. He yelled at me firmly “put it back” and I will always remember being dumbfounded as to how the heck do I do that. 🙂 P&L
and, or yet, life goes on. Will a flower found on Mt Diablo really have significant impact on the continuance of life on this planet. I think you’re OK Roz, should be able to sleep soundly.
Maybe this Castro person could call the Sierra Club and let them know that they have completely failed to prevent the clear cutting of the Sierra. Maybe Tony Hicks could drive up to Lassen or Shasta and give us a first hand report of the devastation. Who owns the land? Who approved the cuts? Why so much and why not use the modern method of selective cutting that leaves large trees intact and does less harm to soil and streams? Ok we’re waiting………. Do we really need a la di da story about a rare weed when the Sierra is being destroyed right now?
Buckwheat found! Now desperately searching for Stymie, Spanky, and Alfalfa
🤣😆😂
On a hot, cranky day like today where I’m hunkered down, you really cracked me up!!!! After almost 3 weeks of sudden outbursts of uncontrollable coughing due to Covid, I just had an uncontrollable outburst of laughter!! Thank you!! 😂😵💫
My question would be why did this flower go extinct back in 1930s? Can you blame that on people or development? (Not back then) And now suddenly it’s coming back?
Good point. I think it’s an invasive species and should be eradicated right away as to not infect the existing flora and fauna. It’s just science, suck it up tree huggers. We’re all in this together 👍🏼
Amazing and just 50 feet over the parameters of the state park fence line more of it is growing in peoples back yards and fields and it is being weed wacked as we speak due to the Fire Dept. giving a love letter to do weed abatement. You can be asked to cut it down just over the fence line but not on the state property……
Not too hard to find when you remember where you had sowed the seeds….
This is extremely exciting news! Anything that brings even a little bit of beauty back into our world is 150% worth all of the enthusiasm for this new discovery. I can only hope and pray that this Mount Diablo buckwheat will thrive thrive and thrive and bring great joy to many people!