Family: Cistaceae
Group: Dicot
Substrate:
Terrestrial
Habit:
Herb
Perennation:
Perennial
Native Range: Endemic to South Florida in Collier County.
Map of select IRC data for peninsular Florida
NatureServe Global Status:
Presumed Extinct
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
SOUTH FLORIDA Occurrence:
Presumed Extirpated
SOUTH FLORIDA Native Status:
Native
South Florida History and Distribution: An endemic perennial terrestrial herb known with certainty only from Marco Island in Collier County, and last collected there in 1987 (Richardson s.n. USF). It was ranked as possibly extirpated in Rare Plants of South Florida (
Gann et al. 2002; pp 151-152) based on five collections between 1964 and 1987. No new records are known despite intensive searches (e.g., Wilder and Roche 2009), and this was published as globally extinct in 2020 (
Knapp et al. 2020).
SOUTH FLORIDA Cultivated Status:
Not Cultivated
Comments: It is similar to
Lechea torreyi, except the capsules, stem, and leaves are completely glabrous, rather than appressed pilose, and the capsules slightly exceed the inner sepals at maturity, rather than being slightly shorter or equal to them.
