Kitten Tails (Besseya bullii)

This species, commonly referred to as kittentails, produces a flowering stalk (up to 4 dm tall) during the month of May. Photo Credit: Thomas A. Meyer

Global Rank: G3 - Vulnerable
Legal Status: N/A
Family: Plantaginaceae
State: IA, IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI
Nature Serve ID: 153338
Lifeform: Forb/herb
Date Inducted in National Collection: 03/14/1986

Description:

Besseya bullii is a short herbaceous plant that is easy to miss...until it blooms. For most of its life, this plant is in the form of a small rosette of hairy basal leaves that are two to five inches in length and have a tendency to hug the ground. However, from April until June this plant sends up a single, fluffy spike of yellowish-green flowers up to sixteen inches tall. At this stage of its life, it is nearly impossible to miss flowering plants of this species.

Where is Kitten Tails (Besseya bullii) located in the wild?

Habitat:

Sandy grasslands, prairies, open oak woods or hillsides, savanna, barrens, and wetlands. (Ohio DNR 2001)

Distribution:

Found from southern Michigan to Minnesota, south to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. (Herkert & Ebinger 2002)

States & Provinces:

Kitten Tails can be found in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin

Which CPC Partners conserve Kitten Tails (Besseya bullii)?

Holden Forests and Gardens

Not Sponsored

Assigned 06/09/17

University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

Not Sponsored

Conservation Actions

Assigned 06/05/18

CPC's Plant Sponsorship Program provides long term stewardship of rare plants in our National Collection. We are so grateful for all our donors who have made the Plant Sponsorship Program so successful. We are in the process of acknowledging all our wonderful plant sponsorship donors on our website. This is a work in progress and will be updated regularly.

Conservation Actions

David Remucal

09/16/2022

For the CPC RNA longevity study, a population in south-central Wisconsin was revisited in 2022 and fresh seed was collected. The population, last sampled in 1991, is on a beautiful bluff prairie preserve in the middle of farm country which also has a large population of Hill's thistle, another listed species. This species seems to favor drier, sandy soils and transition zones between trees and open areas as well as open areas with shorter, or patchy, herbaceous cover, at least in the northwestern parts of its range. Because of its affinity for prairie, most of which has historically been converted into farmland in the midwest, it's highly possible that its current affinity for bluff prairie areas is an artifact of the selection process for farmland leaving those prairies untouched while farming other richer prairies that may have also had Besseya.

Noteworthy is that a second population from which seed was also collected back in 1991 is now down to just a couple of plants. Research on these species is important!

Center for Plant Conservation

08/17/2021

In 2021, CPC contracted the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum to recollect seed from a population currently held in long term orthodox seed storage as part of an IMLS-funded seed longevity experiment. The National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation will evaluate how germination tested viability and RNA Integrity of seed lots decline over time in storage.

09/01/2020

Steven L. Jessup did research from 1985-1987 entitled ""Species Biology and Management of the Rare and Threatened Herbaceous Perennial, Besseya bullii (Scrophulariaceae)"" for Michigan Dept. Natural Resources Natural Features Inventory. No results published to date.

08/28/2020

Anita F. Cholewa has been looking at breeding systems, pollination mechanisms, and dispersal mechanisms. No results published to date. M. J. McKone, R. Ostertag, J.T. Rauscher, D.A. Heiser, and F.L. Russell published in 1995, An exception to Darwin's syndrome: floral position, protogyny, and insect visitation in Besseya bullii (Scrophulariaceae) in Oecologia 101:68-74

Nature Serve Biotics

05/02/2017

Although large populations are found in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois this species is signficantly threatened by lack of management as well as habitat loss from development. While prairie management has increased over the last 20 years, management of savannas and oak woodlands has lagged. These habitats are burned less frequently and have become overgrown, resulting in declines. Specifically, declines in B. bullii have been observed recently in Minnesota and Illinois. That being said, biologists in Wisconsin have noted anecdotally that this species is relatively tolerant of some anthropogenic disturbances such as mowing, trampling and trail building (pers. comm. T. Meyer and K. Kearn). Finally, lack of regular monitoring makes estimating short term trends uncertain (D. Anderson pers comm). Occurrences in Wisconsin and Minnesota that previously were ranked as having good viability have not been observed recently.