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Sabatia arkansana
Pelton's rose gentian is a small annual wildflower known only from two glades in Saline County, Arkansas, and it is critically imperiled. It is not a garden plant, and it grows only in seasonally wet shale and igneous glades that dry out in summer.
Sabatia arkansana, commonly known as Pelton's rose gentian, is an herbaceous annual in the gentian family. It was discovered in 2001 in several glades of the Ouachita Mountains in Saline County, Arkansas by John Pelton, a retired mechanic turned amateur photographer and naturalist. It is known only from two locations in this county and is considered critically imperiled as a result of the presence of nearby housing developments and due to the absence of a fire regime. In summer it shows attractive rose-purple flowers.
Sabatia arkansana is found exclusively in shale and igneous glades that become wet in winter but are dry from summer through fall. Within these unique micro-habitats the plant only exists in confined flat areas along the floodplains of small streams that often dry up during the hotter months of the year. It may also be found in similar conditions near seeping springs. Due to the plant being an annual, the population numbers fluctuate every year. At the first known site, called the Womble Formation site, between 200 and over 1000 individuals were found between 2001 and 2004. The other site showed similar results. Similar habitats in the neighbouring areas of Pulaski County, Garland County and Montgomery County were searched in 2003 and 2004 in hopes of finding other sites, but none were found.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Sabatia arkansana by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
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.
