From a new press release from the NC Botanical Garden:
‘Scientists working at the UNC Herbarium of the North Carolina Botanical Garden have named a new species of wildflower based on the study of specimens from known populations of the very rare plant. Dr. Alan S. Weakley, Herbarium director and faculty member in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Biology Department, and biology graduate student Derick B. Poindexter, published their taxonomic treatment in the journal Phytoneuron on November 26, 2012.
‘The newly named Marshalli legrandii is an herbaceous perennial plant in the composite family. Associated with a rare fire-dependent habitat that is found today in a limited area of the Piedmont of north-central North Carolina and south-central Virginia, it is believed to be imperiled and thus warranting conservation protection. Botanists have located only four known populations of the “Tall Marshallia,” two of which appear to be extirpated.
