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Plant Profile

White Birds-in-a-nest (Macbridea alba)

The white flowers, clustered at the top of the stalk, that give this species its common name of white birds-in-a-nest. Photo Credit: © Billy B. Boothe

Global Rank: G2 - Imperiled
Legal Status: Federally Threatened
Family: Lamiaceae
State: FL
Nature Serve ID: 136197
Lifeform: Forb/herb
Date Inducted in National Collection: 02/09/1992

Description:

Macbridea alba, or white birds-in-a-nest, is quite conspicuous and unmistakable when in flower from May to July. The brilliant white flowers are clustered at the top of the plant in a short spike with bracts. These flowers give the plant its common name, as they look a bit like bird heads in a nest. Each flower has a green calyx about 0.5 inches long and the corolla is two-lipped, the upper lip hood-like. The flowers are borne atop the usually single-stemmed, odorless perennial herb with fleshy rhizomes (USFWS 1992). The plant grows to about 1 - 1.5 feet tall with erect, square stems. The 2 - 4 inch leaves are opposite on another in 6 -8 pairs. The leaves are thick and usually rough-hairy, widest above the middle, have rounded tips and are dotted with glands. The leaf stalks have narrow wings. (FNAI 2000)

Where is White Birds-in-a-nest (Macbridea alba) located in the wild?

Habitat:

White birds-in-a-nest is restricted to the Gulf coastal lowlands near the mouth of the Apalachicola River in the Florida Panhandle. This area provides the grassy habitat on poorly drained, infertile soils that is required by Macbridea alba. The wettest sites occupied by these plants are grassy seepage bogs on gentle slopes at the edge of forested or shrubby wetlands. The plants are also found in savanna, or less permanently wet sites. White birds-in-a-nest also occurs in dryer, mesic flatwoods sites with longleaf pine and runner oaks (USFWS 1992).White birds-in-a-nest shares much the same habitat with two other Florida endangered species: Scutellaria floridana (Florida skullcap) and Stachydeoma graveolens (mock pennyroyal) (FNAI 2000).

Distribution:

White birds-in-a-nest is endemic to the Florida Panhandle, and occurs in Bay, Gulf, Franklin, and Liberty Counties. This species has declined severely outside the Apalachicola National Forest (USFWS

States & Provinces:

White Birds-in-a-nest can be found in Florida

Conservation Actions

10/06/2020

A graduate student at Clemson University studied the seed production and germination of this species (Madsen 1999).

10/06/2020

Jim Hanula, an entomologist with the U.S. Forest Service, has studied the pollination of this species (Hanula 2002).

Nature Serve Biotics

05/02/2017

Endemic to small area of Florida Panhandle. Decreases in the quality and extent of appropriate habitat within this species' very limited range, and recent surveys within its range, suggest that the species is declining. The plants cannot withstand modern intensive forestry practices such as clear-cutting, chopping and tilling of the substrate, dense plantings of pine, and the subsequent exclusion of fire. Thirty-three occurrences have been verified since 1989, but some of these are sub-occurrences which are clustered into larger occurrences. Most of the occurrences are within the Apalachicola National Forest in Florida, but some are on nearby state conservation lands.

S.K. Maddox

01/01/2010

Destruction of habitat. Suppression of fire and loss of open habitat. Development of cattle pastures. Silvicultural practices of the forest products industry and the Forest Service. Use of chemical herbicides on power line rights-of-way. (USFWS

S.K. Maddox

01/01/2010

The most vigorous populations have been found in the Apalachicola National Forest, with the largest numbers of individuals of this species. The Florida Natural Areas Inventory survey shows the Forest as having 41 of the 63 known occurrences of this plant (USFWS 1992).

S.K. Maddox

01/01/2010

Jim Hanula, an entomologist with the U.S. Forest Service, has studied the pollination of this species (Hanula 2002). A graduate student at Clemson University studied the seed production and germination of this species (Madsen 1999).

S.K. Maddox

01/01/2010

US Forest Service has been monitoring Macbridea alba. Prescribed fire. (USFWS 1992)

S.K. Maddox

01/01/2010

Study the effects of growing season burns for the species. Utilize bush hogging or mowing to maintain power line rights-of-way, rather than using herbicides. (USFWS 1992)