Habitat management
Flowering Period for Listed Plants in Alabama
The state of Alabama is blessed with an abundance of plants and our biologists want to do our best to conserve them for future generations. We cannot do that without your help. Thank you for your interest in preserving and recovering Alabama plants!
The following table includes the flowering periods for the listed plants in Alabama to assist with surveys. If appropriate habitats for the species exist in your project area and surveys are planned, we recommend they be conducted by a qualified botanist. Prior experience with the particular species is strongly recommended for the botanist conducting the survey. A visit to a known population of the species immediately prior to any surveys is recommended to become familiar with the species, habitat, and condition of plants at that time of year.
Species surveys cannot be accepted if the plants have no above-ground vegetation and flowers at the time of the surveys. Please provide the name of the surveyor, his/her credentials, and a thorough description of survey methods and habitats present, including shrub and forb species observed.
If it can be demonstrated that no suitable habitat exists for this species within the impacted areas through a detailed description of the plant community (including grasses, forbs, and shrubs) and/or site photographs throughout the entire project area, a species survey is unnecessary. However, we would appreciate notification of habitat suitability survey results.
| Species | Status | Flowering Period | Habitat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Little amphianthus (Amphianthus pusillus) | T | March - April | Restricted to nutrient-poor, temporary pools formed in shallow depressions on outcrops of granitic/gneissic rock. The outcrops can be large, isolated domes or gently rolling flatrocks. From spring to fall the microhabitat fluctuates between xeric to hydric as pools are filled by rain events, then dry completely until the next rain. Shallow (1.25 to 4 in) pools generally full during late fall to early spring. The pools are often referred to as vernal pools and are typically shallow, flat-bottomed, and have intact rims. The intact rims are an important feature in that they restrict drainage and thus allow the pools to hold water required by the species. Ideal conditions within the vernal pools include shallow mineral soils that are sandy-silty and very low in organic material and nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. |
| Price's potato-bean (Apios priceana) | T | Late June - Mid July *Does not flower every year | Open, rocky, wooded slopes and floodplain edges. Sites are usually under mixed hardwoods or in associated forest clearings, often where bluffs or ravine slopes meet creek or river bottoms. Soils are well-drained and loamy, formed on alluvium or over calcareous boulders. Several populations extend onto road or powerline rights-of-way. |
| Morefield's leather-flower (Clematis morefieldii) | E | May - July | Seeps and springs in rocky, limestone woods; Limestone bluffs within open Juniper-hardwood forests, often in association with smoketree (Cotinus obovatus). The vines root in clay-loam soils among massive limestone boulders. |
| Alabama leather-flower (Clematis socialis) | E | Late April - May | Mesic flats 15-30m from streams; silty-clay soils of the Conasauga series eroded from limestone of the Conasauga Formation; Occurs in full sun to partial shade in a grass-sedge-rush community; along rights-of-way that are logged or bush-hogged; indicator species: grass sedge, prairie species. |
| Leafy prairie-clover (Dalea foliosa) | E | Late July - Early August | Occurs in open, thin-soiled limestone cedar glades, limestone barrens, and mesic and wet mesic dolomite prairie. Associates in these habitats are rose-pink (Sabatia angularis), and black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia triloba). The species is disjunct in Illinois, where it is restricted to thin-soiled (< 4.5 dm), wet or moist, open dolomite prairies on river terraces in the northeastern part of the state. The plants require full sun and low competition for optimum growth and reproduction; periodic fire is needed to maintain these conditions. |
| Whorled sunflower (Helianthus verticillatus) | E | Late August - Early October | Moist soil and open canopy, wet prairie, intolerant of canopy, can be found along roadsides, railroads, and edges of ag field, specifically in Southern Shale Valley in Cherokee County; Tree clearing activities can encourage population growth, mechanical disturbance that keeps woody species excluded can be beneficial |
| Lyrate bladderpod (Lesquerella lyrata) | T | March- April | Limestone cedar glade; a component of cedar glade flora occurring in association with limestone outcrops. Current populations exist primarily on glade-like areas with varying levels of disturbance including rights-of-way, pastures, agricultural fields. Similar to other “weedy” spring mustards in agricultural settings in that it is an early successional species. It is a poor competitor and eliminated by shade and competition from invading perennials. Lack of natural disturbance has made the plant rely on human disturbance for survival; plowing and use of herbicides after seeds dispersed can be helpful, especially if areas adjacent to seed source are disturbed. |
| Pondberry (Lindera melissifolia) | E | February - March | Seasonally flooded wetlands; bottomland hardwood; Carolina bays, limestone or limesink ponds, sand ponds, lowland sand prairie depressions; shade tolerant but will also be found in full sun. |
| Mohr's Barbara's buttons (Marshallia mohrii) | T | May - June | Occurs in moist, prairie-like openings in calcareous glades and woodlands and along shale-bedded streams; soils are typically alkaline, high in organic matter and seasonally wet. Shallow, well drained soils dry out often enough to preclude establishment of significant woody vegetation. Prefers full sun to partial shade in a grass-sedge community.open to partially shaded graminoid habitats (prairie-like); can be found along rights-of-way, stream margins; specific attention on Ketona Dolomite Glades and Coosa Valley Prairies. |
| White fringeless orchid (Platanthera integrilabia) | T | Mid-July - Late August | Shady, flat; associated with Sphagnum, red-maple-blackgum-tupelo swamps/wetland/bog/fen; along sandy streams or on rocky, thinly vegetated slopes. |
| Harperella (Ptilimnium nodosum) | E | Those in pond habitats flower earlier in May, while riverine populations flower June-July, continuing until frost. | Occurs in rocky or gravelly shoals and margins of clear, swift-flowing streams, and edges of intermittent pineland ponds in the coastal plain. Relies on spring floods to re-establish gravels, re-set succession, and reduce competition; overwintering seeds become established on point bars, shoals, moist soils near the wetted perimeter of active channel. Tolerates moderate intermittent flooding, which reduces competition significantly. |
| Kral's water-plantain (Sagittaria secundifolia) | T | Infrequent flowering, from May into July, and intermittently into fall. | Frequently exposed shoals, bedrock sills, or rooted among boulders in quiet pools up to a meter in depth. Can grow in pure stands, or among other aquatic submergents including pondweeds, smartweeds, and water-willow. |
| Green pitcher-plant (Sarracenia oreophila) | E | Mid-April - Early June | Distinctive in that it is one of three pitcher plant species to occur outside of the Coastal Plain. Generally occur in 3 distinct nutrient-poor habitat types: oak-pine woodlands, sandstone streambanks, and seepage bogs or fens. Soils range from high in organic material to pure sand, but all are highly acidic and only seasonably wet. Is more shade tolerant than other pitcher plants. Dependant on fire and flood to reduce competition. Existing sites now occur in highly altered vegetation communities. |
| Alabama canebrake pitcher-plant (Sarracenia rubra ssp. alabamensis) | E | Late April - Early June | Occurs on acidic, highly saturated, deep peaty sands or clays of upper Cretaceous origin; sites are wet much of the year, often characterized as wet bogs, fens, or wet flatlands around springheads and seeps. Tolerates shade, but most vigorous growth is in full sun. |
| American chaffseed (Schwalbea americana) | E | April - June | Sandy, acidic soil; in pine flatwoods, fire-maintained savannas, ecotonal areas between peaty wetlands and xeric sandy soils, open grass sedge systems; shade intolerant, needs open to partially open canopy; co-occurs with RCW nest trees indicating similar habitat needs; populations found at sites with frequent fire (quail management and artillery shelling). |
| Gentian pinkroot (Spigelia gentianoides) | E | May - June | Ketona dolomite, southern Alabama longleaf pine savannah, limestone outcrops; occurs in mixed pine-hardwood forest. Needs full sun, open conditions. |
| Relict trillium (Trillium reliquum) | E | March - April | Moist hardwood forest with little historical disturbance and rich organic soils; may reestablish on disturbed sites if seeds are able to disperse from adjacent sites and herbicides or continual disturbance is avoided. |
| Tennessee yellow-eyed grass (Xyris tennesseensis) | E | August - September | Calcareous seeps; open areas of various wet habitat types like streambanks, fens, and wet meadows. Requires relatively specialized habitat that is almost exclusively found in slightly alkaline or circumneutral, gravelly-sandy substrata in rocky calcareous regions of the Ridge and Valley or Interior Low Plateaus physiographic provinces. |
| Georgia rockcress (Arabis georgiana) | T | March - April | Rocky bluffs, ecotones of sloping rock outcrops, sandy loam along riverbanks, limestone or dolomite glades; exposed mineral soils with high to moderately high light intensity. |
| Fleshyfruit gladecress (Leavenworthia crassa) | E | March - April | Limestone glades, limestone outcrops with shallow soils, full sun; pastures, roadside rights-of-way; cultivated plowed fields; Plowing and mowing and other disturbance may reduce competition and benefit this species. |
| American Hart's-tongue fern (Asplenium scolopendrium var. americanum) | T | Found only at sites on or near dolomitic limestone (a type of limestone high in magnesium). Populations are associated with the cool, well-shaded, moist microclimates of woods, ravines, and steep north-facing hillsides. Most populations occur in woodlands where sun flecks provide sufficient sunlight and where moisture is adequate. All sites discovered in the southeast U.S. have been in sinkholes or blowholes of limestone caves. Alabama is at the fringe of its southern range, prefers cooler climate; may be a Pleistocene relict species. | |
| Alabama streak-sorus fern (Thelypteris pilosa var. alabamensis) | T | Takes root in crevices, rough rock surfaces of Pottsville sandstone, typically on ceilings of sandstone overhangs, ledges beneath overhangs, and on exposed rock faces directly over the stream or a short distance away. Sites are shaded to partial sun, kept moist by upslope seepage and humidity from stream. Surrounding forest is cover-type hardwoods. Currently only known from one drainage: the Sipsy Fork. | |
| Louisiana quillwort (Isoetes louisianensis) | E | Sand and gravel bars on small to medium-sized streams; wet meadows. |
