Euphorbia telephioides, a perennial herbaceous plant of about 30-40 cm in height, is a threatened species restricted to coastal Bay, Franklin, and Gulf counties, Florida. It has been reported from xeric to mesic pine flatwoods and in scrubby pinelands dominated by wiregrass and/or Pinus palustris or P. elliottii. Although uncommon, telephus spurge has been observed growing in wetlands with seepage slope species. Telephus spurge can be locally abundant along disturbed sandy, sunny roads, and in sites with bedding. It can be found sporadically abundant in dense grass of unburned scrubby flatwoods, or in upland communities, which have been historically burned with a two to three year fire frequency.

Euphorbia telephioides is mainly threatened by habitat destruction. Urban development, timbering, and inadequate fire management, i.e., fire suppression, are the main pressures reducing or eliminating individual populations. Where fire management is implemented, it stimulates the emergence of individuals and maintains healthy, stable populations.

For more details see Telephus spurge 5-year Review: Summary and Evaluation

Action Plan,Telephus spurge 5-year Action Plan

Harperocallis flava McDaniel (Harper's beauty) – Liliaceae

Harperocallis flava is a grass-like perennial plant. Plants usually bloom from mid-April through May, with fruits maturing in July. The leaves are basal and narrow, and the yellow flowers are solitary, perfect, and born on a stalk much longer than the leaves. Typical of plants in the lily family, the flowers consist of six petals, six stamens, and superior ovary. The petals are 9 to 15 mm long and become green when the plant is in fruit. It reproduces both sexually via seeds and asexually via short rhizomes. This species is genetically uniform across individuals and populations.

Harper’s beauty is a monotypic genus, described in 1968 and placed on the federally endangered species list in 1979. It is endemic to the Florida Panhandle, and occurs in open pineland bogs and along moist roadside ditches of Bay, Franklin, and Liberty counties. The primary threat to these plants is the adverse modification of its habitat: forestry practices, fire suppression, and soil and hydrological disturbances. In addition, this species is threatened by its very limited range and small population number.

For more details see Harper's beauty 5-year Review: Summary and Evaluation

Macbridea alba Chapman (White birds-in-a-nest) – Lamiaceae

White birds-in-a-nest is endemic to the Florida Panhandle, and occurs in Bay, Gulf, Franklin, and Liberty counties. This species lives in open savanna, in mesic flatwoods sites with longleaf pine and oaks. It is a small herb-like plant with small clusters of white buds and flowers that looks like eggs and little bird heads in a nest. Plants usually flower from May through July, and are visited by bees.

The plants cannot survive modern forestry practices such as clearcutting, plowing of the soil, dense plantings of pine, and the elimination of fire. Thus, the threatened status of this species is due to destruction of habitat, lack of prescribed fire, and forestry practices. Gene diversity is low compared to other mint species, possibly due to the restricted range of the species.

For more details see White birds-in-a-nest 5-year Review: Summary and Evaluation

Paronychia chartacea Fern. ssp. minima L.C. Anderson (Crystal lake nailwort) - Caryophyllaceae

Paronychia chartacea comprises two endemic allopatric subspecies that differ in life history, habitat requirements and sexual morphology. Subspecies chartacea is a short-lived perennial that occurs on the Lake Wales, Winter Haven and Mount Dora Ridges of the central peninsula, while subspecies minima is an annual restricted to Washington and Bay counties in the western panhandle. Subspecies minima occurs primarily on the margins of karst ponds, and the only protected populations occur on the Econfina Creek Water Management Area; two-thirds of known occurrences are located on private land in imminent danger of being lost. The principal cause of decline is the loss of habitat through the conversion of scrub or xeric uplands for agricultural, commercial, residential, and recreational purposes.

For more details see Carl Weekley et al. 2009. Demographic Monitoring of Paronychia chartacea ssp. minima,a Federally Threatened Annual Herb, at Econfina Creek Water Management Area [abstract]

Pinguicula ionantha Godfrey (Godfrey’s butterwort) – Lentibulariaceae

Pinguicula ionantha is a carnivorous plant located in Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, Gulf, Liberty, and Wakulla counties, Florida. It inhabits seepage bogs, deep swampy bogs, ditches, and depressions in grassy pine flatwoods and savannas. It survives in shallow standing water or sometimes even submerged for several days after a heavy rain.

The plant has a rosette of up to 15 cm across of fleshy, bright green-yellow leaves with upward rolled edges. The flowers, produced on stalks of about 10 to 5 cm in height, possess five pale violet to white corolla lobes, and rise from late February to April according to temperatures.

Pinguicula ionantha responds strongly to prescribed fire, specifically the timing of the fire event has an influence on fecundity. This species is threatened by habitat degradation due to lack of prescribed fire and shading by planted pines, drainage, and degradation of water quality.

For more details see Godfrey’s butterwort 5-year Review: Summary and Evaluation

Ribes echinellum (Coville) Rehder (Miccosukee gooseberry) – Grossulariaceae

Ribes echinellum, a perennial deciduous shrub, is a threatened species located along the north shoreline of Lake Miccosukee near Monticello, Florida, and in two locations, in South Carolina, McCormick County: Stevens Creek and Sumter National Forest. These disjunct populations may represent Pleistocene refugia, remnants of what was once widespread Tertiary vegetation. The present confinement of R. echinellum to two disjunct localities indicates that it is a very rare species, yet in both locations the plants are abundant. The sites have high floristic diversity, dominated by a mixed hardwood forest containing deciduous species, on mesic and well drained soils with an underlying rock of limestone.

The species occurs on private property in Florida with one of the three properties under a conservation easement. The South Carolina populations are protected on public lands, but herbivory and invasive species continue to pose a threat. Thus, the present impacts of invasive plants and deer herbivory, and potential impacts via development could cause this species to decline.

For more details see Miccosukee gooseberry 5-year Review: Summary and Evaluation

Rhododendron minus var. chapmanii Gray (Chapman's rhododendron) – Ericaceae

Rhododendron minus var. chapmanii is an endangered species restricted to the Florida Panhandle, known from only three populations: coastal Gulf County; Liberty and Gadsden counties in the vicinity of Hosford; and in Clay County on Camp Blanding Military Reservation. The population near Hosford is the largest. The smallest and most geographically isolated of these populations is within the Florida National Guard post at Camp Blanding.

It is an evergreen shrub about 3m tall. It has a narrow two to three week flowering period from mid- March to early April. The flowers are terminal with dark to pale pink campanulate to funnelform corollas. This species flowers and fruits abundantly, however, seedling recruitment has not been observed in the wild.

Chapman's Rhododendron occurs in fire-dependent habitat, between sandhills and floodplain swamps or bogs, and mesic pine flatwoods. Habitat loss and alteration, i.e., urban development, fire suppression, logging, bedding of logged areas for planting of slash pine plantations, and collection for horticultural trade are the main threats to this species.

For more details see Chapman's rhododendron 5-year Review: Summary and Evaluation

Scutellaria floridana Chapman (Florida skullcap) – Lamiaceae

The Florida skullcap, a federally threatened species, is found in Bay, Franklin, Liberty and Gulf Counties, FL. It is a perennial herb with square stems and opposite leaves. The flowers are solitary, with a bell shaped calyx and bright lavender-blue corolla. Bumblebees, megachilids and halictids are probably important pollinators. This species is most commonly found in pine flatwoods and savannas, and has a strong flowering response to recent burns. Plants flower from April through July and are most prolific after a fire. The primary threat to this species is habitat loss/degradation as a result of conversion of land to planted pine stands and fire suppression.

For more details see Florida skullcap 5-year Review: Summary and Evaluation

Spigelia gentianoides Chapman ex A. de Candolle (Gentian pinkroot) – Loganiaceae

Spigelia gentianoides is a small herbaceous plant found in fire-dependent ecosystems. This species comprises two varieties: S. gentianoides var. gentianoides, known from only five populations located in Jackson and Calhoun counties (Florida) and Geneva County (Alabama); and S. gentianoides var. alabamensis, restricted to the Bibb County Glades (Alabama). The plant is found on public and private lands, and is not protected in the State of Alabama. The primary threat to gentian pinkroot is habitat loss and alteration. Factors contributing to this threat include clearcutting and/or selective thinning, mechanical site preparation, pine plantations, disruption of pre-historical and historical fire regimes, and permanent habitat loss through development.

For more details see Gentian pinkroot 5-year Review: Summary and Evaluation

Spigelia gentianoides (Gentian pinkroot) Recovery Plan

Torreya taxifolia Arn. (Florida torreya) – Taxaceae

Torreya taxifolia Arn. is a dioecious evergreen conifer endemic to the ravine slopes on the eastern bank of the Apalachicola River in northern Florida and in parts of Georgia. Prior to 1950’s, T. taxifolia was estimated to be the seventh most abundant tree species within Apalachicola Bluff regions. Surveys conducted in areas with known high tree densities suggested that T. taxifolia has lost at least 98.5% of its total population size since the early 1900s, causing the species to be federally listed as endangered in 1984. The loss of T. taxifolia is thought to have primarily been a result of fungal pathogens during the 1950s and 1960s, or a combination of environmental stress and native pathogens, but studies have yet to provide an explanation for this species’ decline. Despite the conservation actions to protect and determine the cause of this species’ decline, the degree of threat to its persistence remains high; therefore the threat of extinction that faces T. taxifolia is imminent.

For more details see Florida torreya 5-year Review: Summary and Evaluation