ELEMENT STEWARDSHIP ABSTRACT FOR KUHNIA EUPATORIOIDES November 29, 1990 Stewardship Abstract No.: 009 By Alfred E. Schuyler For: State of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and Energy Division of Parks and Forestry Office of Natural Lands Management CN 404 Trenton, New Jersey 08625 Element Stewardship Abstract Element Stewardship Abstracts (ESA's) are prepared to provide land managers and other conservation workers with current biological and management related information on those species and natural ecosystems that are most important to protect or for which control is most needed. The abstracts organize and summarize data from numerous sources, including the literature and from researchers and managers actively working with the species or ecosystem. The ESA format was originally developed by The Nature Conservancy as a starting point for the stewardship of the many species and ecosystems, or elements, protected by the Conservancy. The New Jersey Office of Natural Lands Management is developing ESA's for those elements that are of particular importance as components of the biota of the state. This includes globally rare plant species that are also listed on New Jersey's official Endangered Plant Species List. The ESA serves several important functions. It helps to identify information gaps and target future research efforts. It provides a standard format for highlighting specific information about a species or community including its management needs. It also allows information to be readily communicated among various preserves, state offices, regional centers, natural heritage programs and private organizations. The ESA is a dynamic document that is continuously updated as new information becomes available. Users are encouraged to contribute their information to the abstract. This sharing of information will benefit all land managers by ensuring the availability of up-to-date information on management techniques and knowledgeable contacts. Please contact the Office of Natural Lands Management for an ESA publication list. It will contain the date of the latest revision to each ESA. Please refer to the abstract number when ordering ESA's. The abstract is a compilation of available information and is not an endorsement of particular practices or products. Element Name: KUHNIA EUPATORIOIDES L. (Asteraceae) Element Code: PDAST1HOGO Preparer: Alfred E. Schuyler Common Name: Throughwort Brickellbush Description: Habit: erect perennial herb with mostly alternate gland-dotted leaves and heads of cream-colored flowers. Stem: erect from stout taproot, usually having small hairs toward the top, up to 1.5 m tall. Leaves: alternate, occasionally opposite, linear to narrowly ovate, acuminate to acute, entire to variously toothed, smooth or slightly hairy, gland-dotted beneath, up to 10 cm long and 4.5 cm wide. Inflorescence: up to 33 flowers in subcylindric to campanulate heads, mostly in small clusters terminating branches at top of plant. Involucral bracts striate, up to 14 mm long, outer subulate to narrowly ovate with attenuate tips, inner mostly linear or narrowly oblong with obtuse to attenuate tips. Flowers: ray flowers lacking. Disc flowers with 5-toothed, creamy-white corollas, pappus a single row of up to 20 white to tawny plumose bristles up to 6 mm long, style branches with an elongate club-shaped appendage. Fruits: achenes cylindrical or tapering from base to apex, up to 5 mm long, with up to 20 ribs, blackish. Distinctions from Related Species: some systematists (King and Robinson, 1987; Shinners, 1971) treat K. eupatorioides as a species of Brickellia. If recognized as a genus, Kuhnia may be distinguished from Brickellia by its plumose pappus bristles, apparently the only reliable distinguishing character (King and Robinson, 1987). Shinners (1946) reported intergradation between Kuhnia chlorolepis and K. eupatorioides in Colorado. The former usually has smaller leaves (up to 8.5 mm wide) and fewer heads (solitary or in loose clusters of 2-5). Habitat: Kuhnia eupatorioides is a wide-ranging species from Florida to Arizona, north to New Jersey and Montana (Fernald, 1950; Gleason, 1952). It is primarily a species of the interior of the continent (Fernald, 1939) and is at the eastern and northern limit of its range in New Jersey. In the northeastern portion of its range, it grows in "open woods, thickets, clearings and rocky slopes" (Fernald, 1950). Gleason (1952) reported that it occurs in "Dry open places, especially in sandy soils" and Shinners (1946) gave its habitat as "Rocky or sandy open ground or open woods." In Virginia, Fernald (1937, 1939, 1940) reported it from borders of dry woods and in dry hickory and oak woods. Compared with other Coastal Plain woods, however, he (1943) considered them to be rich. In Illinois, Mohlenbrock (1955) lists it as a member of the flora of hilltop prairies on limestone bluffs that are "minute replicas of prairies to the west." In New Jersey, K. eupatorioides is known from about 16 sites in six scattered counties where the habitats are similar to those described above with three sites associated with limestone (NJNHP, 1989a). In southern New Jersey, Snyder (pers. comm., 1990) considers Pinus virginiana, Cyperus lancastriensis and Retrofractus, Desmodium strictum, Onosmodium virginianum, and Trichostema setaceum as associates or plants that would grow in a habitat similar to that of Kuhnia eupatorioides. Biology/Ecology: Flowering occurs from June to October (Fernald, 1950; Radford et al., 1968). It is a variable species with four or five regional varieties (Long, 1970; Shinners, 1946). Although chromosome numbers have been reported for related species (Gaiser, 1953), apparently no determination has been made for K. eupatorioides. Bohlman et al. (1982) reported unusual diterpenes from K. EUPATORIOIDES and state the need for further investigation of their chemosystematic significance. On an Illinois hilltop, Wyatt (1941) reported that the moth Schinia gracilenta was using K. eupatorioides as a food plant. In New Jersey, the plants appear to grow in a specialized late successional habitat with prairie-like conditions that are forested to some extent (NJNHP, 1989a). Determination of Element Occurrence (EO) Quality: In New Jersey, most collections of K. eupatorioides were made prior to 1921. The species is probably extirpated from most historic sites (Snyder, pers. comm., 1990). The only extant site known is in Sussex County where over 50 plants are scattered over approximately five acres on an open grassy hillside over limestone (NJNHP, 1989a). Threats: Habitat destruction for development is a serious threat. In general, the sites lack appeal as natural areas and, particularly in the southern part of the state, are on portions of the coastal plain where substantial residential or commercial development has occurred. Land Protection Specifications: Plants appear to be shade tolerant, but usually grow in somewhat open wooded areas. Tracts of land large enough to support open woods with native plants are needed for protection purposes. Recovery Potential: As a species of a specialized late successional habitat, recovery potential probably is low. Restoration would be hampered by both time and obtaining the interaction of ecological factors responsible for the development of the habitat. Biological Monitoring Needs: We need to know how well plants are persisting at the known extant sites, whether or not they still occur at historic sites, and if they can be found at new sites. Biological Monitoring Procedures: Population size at the extant site should be recorded periodically and the capacity of the habitat for providing necessary conditions for the persistence of K. eupatorioides should be evaluated. Historic sites and new sites, with habitat characteristics similar to known sites, should be searched. Biological Monitoring Programs: David Snyder is the most knowledgeable botanist concerning the status of K. eupatorioides in New Jersey. Management Needs: The one known extant population may need management to protect its habitat from being overgrown with competitors. Management Procedures: If conditions warrant it, competing plants should be removed from the extant site. The area is small enough that removal probably can be done with a minimum amount of labor. Summary of Stewardship Needs: Kuhnia eupatorioides is a widespread North American species reaching the northern and eastern limit of its range in New Jersey. It grows on rocky sandy open ground or open woods. It often occurs in prairie-like habitats associated with limestone. In New Jersey the habitat appears to be late successional with prairie-like conditions but forested to some extent. Previously known from about 16 scattered sites throughout the state, it now is known from one site in Sussex County. Habitat destruction for development is a serious threat. Tracts of land large enough to support open woods with native plants should be protected where K. eupatorioides occurs. Recovery potential probably is low because of difficulties involved in restoring a specialized late successional habitat for a species at the limit of its range. The capacity for K. eupatorioides to persist at its known extant site needs evaluation and searches should be conducted for it at historic sites and new sites. If conditions warrant it, competitors should be removed from sites where K. eupatorioides occurs. Bibliography for Kuhnia eupatorioides l.: Bohlmann, F., et al. 1982. Unusual Diterpenes from Brickellia eupatorioides. Phytochemistry 21(1): 181-186. Chamberlain, J.S. 1891. A Comparative Study of the Styles of Compositae. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 18: 175-186, 199-210. Fernald, M.L. 1937. Local Plants of the Inner Coastal Plain of Southeastern Virginia. Rhodora 39: 321-366, 379-415, 433-459, 465-491. Fernald, M.L. 1939. Last Survivors in the Flora of Tidewater Virginia. Rhodora 41: 465-504, 529-559, 564-574. Fernald, M.L. 1940. A Century of Additions to the Flora of Virginia. Rhodora 42: 355-416; 419-498; 503-521 Fernald, M.L. 1943. Virginian Botanizing under Restrictions. Rhodora 45: 357-413, 445-480, 485-511. Fernald, M.L. 1950. Gray's Manual of Botany. 8th ed. American Book Co., New York. lxiv + 1632 pp. Gaiser, L.O. 1953. Chromosome Studies in Kuhniinae (Eupatorieae). I. Brickellia. Rhodora 55: 253-267, 269-288, 297-321, 328-345. Gleason, H.A. 1952. The New Britton and Brown Illustrated Flora of the Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. The New York Botanical Garden, New York. 3 v. King, R.M. & H. Robinson. 1987. The Genera of Eupatoriae (Asteraceae). Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden. ix + 581 pp. Long, R.W. 1970. Additions and Nomenclatural Changes in the Flora of Southern Florida-I. Rhodora 72: 17-46. Mohlenbrock, R.C. 1955. Contributions to the Flora of Southern Illinois. Rhodora 57: 319-322. NJNHP. 1989a. Element Occurrence Summaries. New Jersey Natural Heritage Program, Trenton. NJNHP. 1989b. State Ranking Forms. New Jersey Natural Heritage Program, Trenton. Radford, A.E., H.E. Ahles, & C.R. Bell. 1968. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill. lxi + 1833 pp. Shinners, L.H. 1946. Revision of the Genus Kuhnia L. Wrightia 1(2): 122-144. Shinners, L.H. 1964. Application of the Name Kuhnia eupatorioides var. angustifolia (Compositae). Rhodora 66: 160. Shinners, L.H. 1971. Kuhnia L. Transferred from Brickellia Ell. (Compositae). Sida 4(3): 274. Snyder, D.B. 1990. New Jersey Natural Heritage Program, Trenton, personal communication.