Santa Inez goldenbanner facts for kids
Thermopsis macrophylla is a special kind of flowering plant in the legume family. It's often called the Santa Inez goldenbanner or Santa Ynez false-lupine. This plant is quite rare and has beautiful bright yellow flowers.
Quick facts for kids Santa Inez goldenbanner |
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Thermopsis
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T. macrophylla
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| Thermopsis macrophylla Hook. & Arn.
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Where This Plant Lives
This plant is found only in Santa Barbara County, California. This means it's endemic to that area, like a unique treasure found nowhere else! There are only about 500 to 2500 of these plants left. Most of them grow in the Santa Ynez Mountains.
It's interesting how these plants grow. They often appear after a wildfire. This is because their seeds can stay hidden in the soil for a long time. Fire helps them wake up and start growing. All the known groups of these plants live in wild areas within the Los Padres National Forest.
The Santa Inez goldenbanner likes to grow in areas called chaparral. These are dry, shrubby lands with sandstone soils. You might find it growing near other plants like chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum), Eastwood's manzanita (Arctostaphylos glandulosa), and chaparral whitethorn (Ceanothus leucodermis).
For a while, this plant was grouped with other similar Thermopsis species. But in 1994, scientists decided that this specific plant, found only in the Santa Ynez Mountains, was unique enough to be its own species. So, it got its special name, T. macrophylla.
What the Plant Looks Like
The Santa Inez goldenbanner is a rhizomatous perennial herb. This means it's a plant that lives for many years and spreads using underground stems called rhizomes. It can grow quite tall, up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) (about 6.5 feet), and spread out about 1 m (3 ft 3 in) (about 3 feet) wide.
Each plant can produce up to ten flower stalks. Each stalk can have as many as 100 bright yellow flowers. These flowers are about 2 cm (0.79 in) (less than an inch) long.
After the flowers bloom, the plant produces a legume pod. This pod is like a pea pod and holds six to eight seeds. These seeds have very tough outer coats. For them to germinate (start growing), they need to be heated by fire until they reach about 80 °C (176 °F) (176°F). This process, called scarification, helps break open the hard seed coat, allowing the seed to sprout.
