Aliciella sedifolia is a rare species of flowering plant in the phlox family

Polemoniaceae

Polemoniaceae are a family of about 25 genera with 270-400 species of annual and perennial plants, native to the Northern Hemisphere and South America, with the center of diversity in western North America, especially in California.Only one genus is found in Europe, and two in Asia, where they...

 known by the common name stonecrop gilia. It is endemic to Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

 in the United States, where it is limited to a small area in the San Juan Mountains

San Juan Mountains

The San Juan Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado. The area is highly mineralized and figured in the gold and silver mining industry of early Colorado. Major towns, all old mining camps, include Creede, Lake City, Silverton, Ouray, and...

.

This plant is unlikely to be confused with any other. It is a perennial herb growing from a taproot

Taproot

A taproot is an enlarged, somewhat straight to tapering plant root that grows vertically downward. It forms a center from which other roots sprout laterally.Plants with taproots are difficult to transplant...

, reaching only a short stature. The leaves are linear in shape and succulent in texture, resembling those of stonecrops

Sedum

Sedum is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, members of which are commonly known as stonecrops. It contains around 400 species of leaf succulents that are found throughout the Northern Hemisphere, varying from annual and creeping herbs to shrubs. The plants have...

 (Sedum), giving the species its name. The inflorescence

Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

 is a spikelike cluster of blue-purple flowers. The seeds are winged. Blooming occurs in July and August, and possibly September.

This plant is limited to the alpine climate

Alpine climate

Alpine climate is the average weather for a region above the tree line. This climate is also referred to as mountain climate or highland climate....

s of the high San Juan Mountains. It grows on white volcanic ash

Volcanic ash

Volcanic ash consists of small tephra, which are bits of pulverized rock and glass created by volcanic eruptions, less than in diameter. There are three mechanisms of volcanic ash formation: gas release under decompression causing magmatic eruptions; thermal contraction from chilling on contact...

 and sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 talus

Scree

Scree, also called talus, is a term given to an accumulation of broken rock fragments at the base of crags, mountain cliffs, or valley shoulders. Landforms associated with these materials are sometimes called scree slopes or talus piles...

. The local elevation

Elevation

The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....

 is between 11,800 and 13,400 feet. Alpine avens

Geum rossii

Geum rossii is a species of flowering plant in the rose family known by the common names Ross' avens and alpine avens. It is native to North America where its distribution spans northern Canada and the high mountains of the western United States. It grows at high-latitude and high-elevation...

 (Geum rossii) is a dominant plant in the area, but the gilia only occurs in bare patches amidst the plant cover.

This is "an extremely rare endemic" plant, with only two occurrences known. The first population was in an uncertain location and when searchers were unable to find it the plant was feared extinct

Extinction

In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...

. This occurrence was rediscovered in 2007. In the meantime a second occurrence was found on Half Peak; it is made up of two stands of plants totalling 1100 individuals. All the plants are on land managed by the United States Forest Service

United States Forest Service

The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...

.

This plant is threatened by off-road vehicle

Off-road vehicle

An off-road vehicle is considered to be any type of vehicle which is capable of driving on and off paved or gravel surface. It is generally characterized by having large tires with deep, open treads, a flexible suspension, or even caterpillar tracks...

use.