Agalinis tenuifolia

Agalinis tenuifolia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class:	Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Order:	Scrophulariales
Family:	Scrophulariaceae
Genus:	Agalinis
Species:	A. tenuifolia
Binomial name
Agalinis tenuifolia (Vahl) Raf.
Natural range of Agalinis tenuifolia from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Its common name is slender garardia (Musselman and Mann 1978) or slenderleaf false foxglove (USDA NRCS 2015).

Description

It is an annual plant (Hogg et al 1983).

Distribution

Agalinis tenuifolia is the most widely distributed throughout eastern North America (Musselman and Mann 1978).

Ecology

This species is a vigorous parasite. It formed haustoria on all 19 commercial species included in Appendix III. No clear host preference was shown, although hardwood species supported more parasitic attachments than pine species (Musselman and Mann et al 1978).

Habitat

Agalinis tenuifolia commonly grows in disturbed sites, including clear cut areas. Large populations may also be found growing at the margins of ditches and in other wet or moist habitats (Musselman and Mann 1978). It can be found in undisturbed grasslands and areas with low soil nutrients (Hogg and Morton 1983). It occurs on xeric limestone prairies of Illinois (Hogg et al 1983).

Use by animals

Native vegetation, often including Agalinis tenuifolia, can be completely destroyed and replaced by weeds and soil nutrients increase dramatically when Ring-billed Gulls and other species of gulls nest from April to June (Hogg et al 1983).

References and notes

Hogg, E.H. and J.K. Morton. 1983. The effects of nesting gulls on the vegetation and soil of islands in the Great Lakes. Canadian Journal of Botany 61:3240-3254.

Musselman, L.J. and W.F. Mann, Jr. 1978. Root parasites of southern forests. General Technical Report SO-20. New Orleans, LA, USDA Forest Service.

USDA NRCS Plants Database team. URL:plants.usda.gov