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Leavenworthia crassa
Also called Fleshy Fruit Gladecress
Leavenworthia crassa is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family, Brassicaceae, known commonly as the fleshy-fruit gladecress. It is endemic to Alabama in the United States, where it occurs in only two counties. It is "likely one of the most imperiled plant species in the Southeast," and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service issued a final rule listing it as an endangered species in 2014.
Like other species in the small genus Leavenworthia, this plant is adapted to cedar glade habitat. These glades are sunny openings in woods dominated by eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana). They have thin soils over sheets of limestone, with many bare rock and gravel outcroppings. The soils are very wet during the winter and spring and very dry in the summer. The species requires the full sun of this open habitat type and cannot survive in shady areas. Other plants in the habitat include Tennessee milkvetch (Astragalus tennesseensis), Alabama gladecress (Leavenworthia alabamica), Michaux's gladecress (Leavenworthia uniflora), dwarf larkspur (Delphinium tricorne), smooth rockcress (Boechera laevigata), yellow sunnybell (Schoenolirion croceum), and small skullcap (Scutellaria parvula).
Alabama gladecress · Tennessee Gladecress · Tennessee gladecress · Cedar gladecress · Necklace gladecress · Michaux's gladecress · Gladecress
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Leavenworthia crassa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
