Sabatia brevifolia

Sabatia brevifolia
Photo taken by Gil Nelson
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class:	Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Order:	Gentianales
Family:	Gentianaceae
Genus:	Sabatia
Species:	S. brevifolia
Binomial name
Sabatia brevifolia Raf.
Natural range of Sabatia brevifolia from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common name: shortleaf rose gentian

Taxonomic notes

Synonym: Sabbatia elliottii Steudel

Description

"Glabrous, perennial or annual herbs with erect or ascending stems. Leaves opposite, entire, sessile. Inflorescence terminal, cymose. Calyx 5-13 parted, lobes united at bae, those of first flowers longest, smaller on later flowers; corolla rotate white or pink with yellow eye, lobes 5-13, tube becoming membranous and persistent around the capsule. Capsule ovoid to ellipsoid; seeds small, alveolate." - Radford et al 1964

"Annual, rhizomes absent. Stems freely branched, terete or slightly angled above, 2-5 dm tall. Basal leaves present or absent at anthesis; stems leaves linear to narrowly lanceolate or elliptic-oblanceolate, 1-2.5 cm long, 1-8 mm wide, acute to obtuse. Inflorescence paniculate, branches alternate, to 3 dm long, 0.5-2.5 dm broad. Calyx lobes 5, linear, 2-7 mm long; corolla lobes white, usually white on drying, elliptic to oblanceolate, 1-1.5 cm long, 2-4 mm wide; filaments 1-2 mm long; stigmas 3-4 mm long, style 0-1 mm long. Capsule 4-5 mm long; seeds brown, 0.3-0.4 mm long." - Radford et al 1964

Distribution

Regionally endemic to the Coastal Plain from Virginia south through most of Florida and west to southern Alabama. It is rare in Alabama.

Ecology

Habitat

In the Coastal Plain in Florida and Georgia, S. brevifolia can occur in wet pine flatwoods, moist sand around ephemeral ponds in open flatwoods, seepage bogs on pineland slopes, borders of cypress-gum ponds, exposed shores of sinkhole ponds, and sometimes open well-drained woodlands. Associated species Polygala cruciata, P. hookeri, P. lutea, Eupatorium leucolepis.

Phenology

White flowers bloom August through November.

Pollination

The following Hymenoptera families and species were observed visiting flowers of Sabatia brevifolia at Archbold Biological Station (Deyrup 2015):

Halictidae: Lasioglossum nymphalis

References and notes

Deyrup, M.A. and N.D. 2015. Database of observations of Hymenoptera visitations to flowers of plants on Archbold Biological Station, Florida, USA.

Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: November 2015. Collectors: Loran C. Anderson, Robert K. Godfrey, R.A. Norris, Annie Schmidt, Cecil R. Slaughter, Rodie White. States and Counties: Florida: Liberty, Osceola. Georgia: Grady. Compiled by Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy.

Radford, Albert E., Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. 1964, 1968. The University of North Carolina Press. 836. Print.