From further expansion of the human population,
T. amoenum had become a
rare species by the mid-1900s. Through the late 1900s, the number of distinct populations dwindled to about 20 in number, from pressure of human
population growth and urban development.
Rediscovery By 1993,
T. amoenum was thought to be extinct after the depletion of the population in Vacaville, but it was rediscovered by Peter Connors in the form of a single plant on a site in western Sonoma County. The seeds from this single specimen were used to grow more organisms. The Sonoma County location has been developed and any plants remaining there have been extirpated. Presently there is only a single extant population, subsequently discovered in 1996 in northern Marin County, which numbers approximately 200 plants.
Trifolium amoenum became a federally listed
endangered species in 1997. Recent conservation research on the species has been conducted by the
Bodega Marine Laboratory. ==See also==