Pine Barren False Foxglove (Agalinis georgiana)

Global Rank: G1 - Critically Imperiled
Legal Status: N/A
Family: Orobanchaceae
State: FL, GA
Nature Serve ID: 144713
Lifeform: Forb/herb
Date Inducted in National Collection:

Description:

Where is Pine Barren False Foxglove (Agalinis georgiana) located in the wild?

States & Provinces:

Pine Barren False Foxglove can historically be found in Florida, Georgia

Conservation Actions

William Morton

10/30/2023

Boyton’s False Foxglove: A Rare Hemi-parasitic Plant:

In September 2023, the Atlanta Botanical Garden performed two site assessments around Blackwater River State Forest in search of Agalinis georgiana populations. During site assessments, it is important to see how the site is managed and if imminent threats exist. Led by Field Technician Ashton Holliday-Goulart, the first site assessment was to confirm that the plant was still in existence and in ideal health.Numerous existing elemental occurrences were visited, but at only one location a healthy population was observed (in Blackwater River State Forest. Ashton estimated there were at least 15 plants, only one of which was flowering. Knowing that this species has an extremely fast growth to germination rate she decided to come back the next week for a second site assessment.

During this second assessment, the site was scoured again for any reproductive individuals that might not have been accounted for previously. At this time,Ashton and Kelly Coles (Gulf Coast Manager) had better luck, finding80 reproductive and 1 vegetative individual. The reproductive individuals were tagged and their locations were recorded. Since all of the plants that were found still had flowers and buds, a third visit was planned to allow for open pollination.

During the third site visit, tagged plants were evaluated to see if bagging the developing seeds was feasible. In many cases, an individual plant tagged for seed collection was still in flower so it had to be substituted for a different plant that was no longer flowering. In total, 282 fruits were bagged across 13 tagged plants. This population will be revisited for seed collection in mid- to late- October. Collected seeds will be safeguarded at the ABG Conservation Seedbank and when quantities allow, duplicate at the National Laboratory for Genetic Resource Preservation.