Family: Boraginaceae
Group: Dicot
Substrate:
Terrestrial
Habit:
Herb
Perennation:
Annual
Native Range: South Florida, the Greater Antilles, Mexico, Central America and northern South America.
State of Florida Status:
Endangered
Florida Natural Areas Inventory State Status:
Presumed Extirpated or Extinct
IRC SOUTH FLORIDA Status:
Presumed Extirpated or Extinct in the Wild
Map of select IRC data for peninsular Florida
SOUTH FLORIDA Occurrence:
Presumed Extirpated
SOUTH FLORIDA Native Status:
Native
South Florida History and Distribution: Ranked as possibly extirpated in Rare Plants of South Florida (
Gann et al. 2002; pp 148-149) based on several collections made between 1838 and 1978 from Key West to Sugerload Key in the lower Florida Keys. No new records are known, and now ranked as presumed extirpated.
SOUTH FLORIDA Cultivated Status:
Not Cultivated
Comments: For images, visit the
Malezas de México (Weeds of Mexico) website.
Synonyms:
Heliotropium fruticosum,
H. myosotoides,
H. phyllostachyum.
FLORIDA KEYS Occurrence:
Presumed Extirpated
FLORIDA KEYS Native Status:
Presumed Extirpated
IRC FLORIDA KEYS Status:
Presumed Extirpated
Map of select IRC data for the Florida Keys
Florida Keys History and Distribution: Key West heliotrope was collected first on the island of Key West either by John Loomis Blodgett between 1838 and 1853 or by Ferdinand Rugel in 1846. It was last reported for Key West with any certainty by J. Cosmo Melvill in 1884. Although reported in
1913 by John Kunkel Small for hammocks and disturbed areas on the island of Keys West, it is not clear that Small actually observed any plants. George N. Avery observed plants on Sugarloaf Key between 1964 and 1967, which is the last known report for the Florida Keys. For more information on H. fruticosum in the Florida Keys, see IRC's
species account.
