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Species named after UNC Herbarium botanist

Posted on September 27, 2007 by Staff

UNC News Services

A new, rare species of Boneset or Thoroughwort (genus Eupatorium) has been discovered growing in Carolina bays and similar wet depressions in North and South Carolina. The distinctive Bay Boneset (Eupatorium paludicola) was described by botanist Richard LeBlond, an associate with the University of North Carolina Herbarium, in the botanical journal Rhodora (Vol. 109, No. 938), published Aug. 22.

Bay Boneset has been identified from eight sites in the Carolina Coastal Plain. The species name, paludicola, is Latin for “a dweller in marshes.” Bay Boneset favors isolated wet depressions with fluctuating water levels, and several of the sites are clay-based Carolina bays with perched water tables. The habitats are typically flooded in winter and spring, and sometimes well into summer. These conditions favor wildflowers, grasses and sedges that are able to take advantage of an often short growing season, and discourage most shrubs and trees.

“This new species shows, once again, that North Carolina and the Southeast are teeming with plant diversity,” said Peter White, director of the North Carolina Botanical Garden, of which the UNC Herbarium is a part. “New species are not just in the tropics. Our long evolutionary history, uninterrupted by glacial ice, and our tremendous habitat diversity means that there is much more to be explored and discovered.”

Specimens of the new Boneset were deposited in the UNC Herbarium’s collection, joining more than 1,000 other plant specimens collected by LeBlond.

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