Spring Blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia verna): COSEWIC rapid review of classification

Official title: COSEWIC Rapid Review of Classification on the Spring Blue-eyed Mary Collinsia verna in Canada

Expirated

2022

COSEWIC assessment summary

Assessment summary – December 2022

Common name: Spring Blue-eyed Mary

Scientific name: Collinsia verna

Status: Extirpated

Reason for designation: A spring ephemeral plant of open deciduous woods in Carolinian of southwestern Ontario. This species has been collected historically at only three sites. No plants have been found in Canada since 1954, despite searches in the vicinity of historical occurrences.

Occurrence: Ontario

Status history: No site records since 1954. Designated Extirpated in April 1987. Status re-examined and confirmed in May 2000 and December 2022.

COSEWIC rapid review of classification

Preface

There have been three known occurrences of the Spring Blue-eyed Mary in extreme south-western Ontario (COSEWIC 2000). The species was last reported in Canada in 1954. (COSEWIC 2000; Environment Canada 2010; Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources 2010).

Since the Spring Blue-eyed Mary was last assessed (COSEWIC 2000), digitization has advanced in herbarium collections worldwide. Furthermore, the citizen science platform iNaturalist has facilitated sharing species occurrences. Despite this improved data access, no Canadian records of the Spring Blue-eyed Mary have been found since the last COSEWIC status report on the species.

There is a single occurrence reported from a 1985 vegetation survey on a private rural property near Ottawa. However, no photograph or specimen was obtained and the survey lists a number of species in addition to Spring Blue-eyed Mary that are not known or are very rare for the Ottawa area. Regarding this report, Mike Oldham, botanist from the Ontario Natural Heritage Program wrote:

Canadian records of Collinsia verna are restricted to southwestern Ontario and it seems very unlikely that species occurs in the Ottawa area, hundreds of kilometers from the closest documented record. The species is not known from Quebec, New England, or New York state in the vicinity of the Ontario [sic]. I suspect that the record is either based on plants that spread from a garden, were deliberately planted at the site, or the species was misidentified. (Correspondence from M. Oldham to Laurie McCannell, Aug 27, 2013.)

The Ontario Natural Heritage Information Centre has subsequently assessed the species as SX in Ontario, with the reasons for the rank given as “A spring ephemeral of open deciduous woods in the Carolinian Zone. Collected historically at three sites in Ontario, though no records are known since 1954, despite searches in the vicinity of historic records. First collected in Ontario in 1894...” (ONHIC 2015). The Ontario rank was last updated January 31, 2015.

The species is listed as extirpated under both the Ontario Species at Risk Act and Canada’s Species at Risk Act.

Status history

No site records since 1954. Designated Extirpated in April 1987. Status re-examined and confirmed in May 2000 and December 2022.

Updated map

▢ Required
▣ Not required

Explanation / updated map provided

Not required. See previous assessment (COSEWIC 2000).

Technical summary

Complete Technical Summary not required for Extirpated species assessed by Rapid Review of Classification.

Collinsia verna

Spring Blue-eyed Mary

Collinsie printanière

Range of occurrence in Canada (province/territory/ocean): Ontario

COSEWIC status history

No site records since 1954. Designated Extirpated in April 1987. Status re-examined and confirmed in May 2000 and December 2022.

Status and reasons for designation:

Status: Extirpated

Alpha-numeric codes: Not applicable

Reasons for designation: A spring ephemeral plant of open deciduous woods in Carolinian of southwestern Ontario. This species has been collected historically at only three sites. No plants have been found in Canada since 1954, despite searches in the vicinity of historical occurrences.

Applicability of Criteria

Criterion A (Decline in total number of mature individuals): Not applicable. There have been no verified Canadian records since 1954. Decline does not apply.

Criterion B (Small distribution range and decline or fluctuation): Not applicable. There have been no verified Canadian records since 1954. Small Distribution Range does not apply.

Criterion C (Small and declining number of mature individuals): Not applicable. There have been no verified Canadian records since 1954. Small and declining number of mature individuals does not apply.

Criterion D (Very small or restricted population): Not applicable. There have been no verified Canadian records since 1954. Very small or restricted population does not apply.

Criterion E (Quantitative analysis): Not applicable. Analysis not conducted.

Acknowledgements

Del Meidinger and Bruce Bennett (Vascular Plant co-chairs) provided information on the species. Leah Ramsay provided comments on an earlier draft.

Authorities contacted

Mike Oldham, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry

Colin Jones, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry

Gina Schalk, Canadian Wildlife Services (Environment and Climate Change Canada)

Jennifer Doubt, Canadian Museum of Nature

Leah de Forest, Parks Canada

Information sources

COSEWIC 2000. COSEWIC assessment and status report on the spring blue-eyed Mary, Collinsia verna, in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. vi + 17 pp.

Environment Canada. 2010. Recovery Strategy for the Spring Blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia verna) in Canada. Species at Risk Act Recovery Strategy Series. Environment Canada, Ottawa. iv + 12 pp.

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. 2010. Spring Blue-eyed Mary. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. Website: https://www.ontario.ca/page/spring-blue-eyed-mary [accessed January 2021].

Ontario Natural Heritage Information Centre. 2015. Website: https://www.ontario.ca/page/get-natural-heritage-information [accessed January 2021].

Writer of rapid review of classification:

• David F. Fraser

RAMAS results graphic output: (paste screen clipping, for example, from side note):

• not required for an extirpated species

RAMAS text output:

• N/A

COSEWIC history

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) was created in 1977 as a result of a recommendation at the Federal-Provincial Wildlife Conference held in 1976. It arose from the need for a single, official, scientifically sound, national listing of wildlife species at risk. In 1978, COSEWIC designated its first species and produced its first list of Canadian species at risk. Species designated at meetings of the full committee are added to the list. On June 5, 2003, the Species at Risk Act (SARA) was proclaimed. SARA establishes COSEWIC as an advisory body ensuring that species will continue to be assessed under a rigorous and independent scientific process.

COSEWIC mandate

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assesses the national status of wild species, subspecies, varieties, or other designatable units that are considered to be at risk in Canada. Designations are made on native species for the following taxonomic groups: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, arthropods, molluscs, vascular plants, mosses, and lichens.

COSEWIC membership

COSEWIC comprises members from each provincial and territorial government wildlife agency, four federal entities (Canadian Wildlife Service, Parks Canada Agency, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and the Federal Biodiversity Information Partnership, chaired by the Canadian Museum of Nature), three non-government science members and the co-chairs of the species specialist subcommittees and the Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge subcommittee. The Committee meets to consider status reports on candidate species.

Definitions (2022)

Wildlife Species

A species, subspecies, variety, or geographically or genetically distinct population of animal, plant or other organism, other than a bacterium or virus, that is wild by nature and is either native to Canada or has extended its range into Canada without human intervention and has been present in Canada for at least 50 years.

Extinct (X)

A wildlife species that no longer exists.

Extirpated (XT)

A wildlife species no longer existing in the wild in Canada, but occurring elsewhere.

Endangered (E)

A wildlife species facing imminent extirpation or extinction.

Threatened (T)

A wildlife species likely to become endangered if limiting factors are not reversed.

Special Concern (SC)*

A wildlife species that may become a threatened or an endangered species because of a combination of biological characteristics and identified threats.

Not at Risk (NAR)**

A wildlife species that has been evaluated and found to be not at risk of extinction given the current circumstances.

Data Deficient (DD)***

A category that applies when the available information is insufficient (a) to resolve a species’ eligibility for assessment or (b) to permit an assessment of the species’ risk of extinction.

* Formerly described as “Vulnerable” from 1990 to 1999, or “Rare” prior to 1990.

** Formerly described as “Not In Any Category”, or “No Designation Required.”

*** Formerly described as “Indeterminate” from 1994 to 1999 or “ISIBD” (insufficient scientific information on which to base a designation) prior to 1994. Definition of the (DD) category revised in 2006.

The Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada, provides full administrative and financial support to the COSEWIC Secretariat.