Linanthus parryae (Sand Blossoms)
Credit: Felipe Zapata
about the species
With its explosive annual blooms, the sand blossom is an iconic plant of the Mojave desert of California. It also plays a unique role in evolutionary biology. Historical studies of natural populations of this species were critical to conceive, develop, and test foundational ideas like Wright’s shifting balance, the model of Isolation by Distance, and the F-statistics. It has been suggested that the fields of landscape and conservation genetics as well as phylogeography trace their origins back to these important studies in L. parryae.
why species was selected
There are no genomes currently available for any species of Linanthus, and to our knowdlege for any member of the family Polemoniaceae. By sequencing the first genome of L. parryae, we will be able to harness the power of genomics to better understand genetic diversity, population dynamics, detect adaptive alleles to harsh desert environments, and provide a critical baseline to inform the genomic health of other rare and threatened species of Linanthus.
