Minnesota Endangered Species Youth Art Contest

Leedy's roseroot (Rhodiola integrifolia ssp. leedyi)

 

Photo by USFWS; Phil Delphey

Leedy's roseroot is a cliffside wildflower, found today in only two widely separated states. Four populations of several thousand plants each are found in Fillmore and Olmstead Counties, Minnesota. The other two are in upstate New York, a large population on the shores of Seneca Lake and a single plant at Watkins Glen.

 

Species whose populations are so widely separated from each other geographically are known as "disjunct" species. In the case of Leedy's roseroot, not only are the two centers of population geographically distant from each other, but the subspecies is disjunct from the main species, which occurs in the western mountains. This pattern of distribution suggests that Leedy's roseroot is a glacial relict - a plant that was more widespread at the end of the last glaciation but which has since become isolated because of the loss of appropriate habitat in intervening areas as the climate has warmed.

 

USFWS Leedy's Roseroot photos

 

Fact Sheet: Leedy's Roseroot

 

Species Overview linked to the National USFWS Endangered Species website

 

Center for Plant Conservation - Leedy's Roseroot

 

 

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