Other Rarities

Noteworthy additional rare taxa found to date on one or more Ketona Glades include county records for another 16 taxa tracked by the Alabama Natural  Heritage Program (ALNHP). Most notable were federally Endangered Xyris tennesseensis Kral (A. and S. 7004, VDB), previously known in Alabama only from a small population about 160 km to the northwest, and a current and a former Federal Candidate (C2) Species, Symphyotrichum georgianum (Alexander) Nesom (A. and S. 7306, VDB), and Leavenworthia exigua var. lutea (A. and S. 7506, VDB). The 13 other county record rarities were Echinacea purpurea, Helianthus smithii Heiser, 

Isoëtes butleri, Leavenworthia uniflora, Mirabilis albida, Ophioglossum engelmannii, Orobanche uniflora L., 

Pediomelum subacaule, Ponthieva  racemosa (Walt.) C. Mohr, Schoenolirion croceum, Spiranthes magnicamporum, Symphyotrichum laeve var. concinnum, and Veronicastrum virginicum (L.)  Farw. The identification of the Spiranthes is tentative: some or all of these plants may be referable to S. cernua (L.) L. C. Rich., "contaminated" with genes from S. magnicamporum, as reported from other states by Sheviak (1991). We also found new, Ketona Glade locations, for another 18 rare taxa that others had collected previously somewhere in Bibb County. These taxa included federally Threatened Marshallia mohrii, which achieves its greatest abundance on these glades;

Silene regia, a former federal Candidate (C2) species that had been feared extinct in Alabama; one current and two other former C2 species, Arabis georgiana, Croton alabamensis var. alabamensis, and Rudbeckia triloba var. pinnatiloba;  and 13 additional taxa tracked by the ALNHP:

Callirhoë alcaeoides, Carex eburnea, Cheilanthes alabamensis, Enemion biternatum Raf., Gentiana villosa L., Leptopus phyllanthoides,

Liatris cylindracea, Penstemon tenuiflorus, Polygala boykinii, Rhynchospora colorata, Scutellaria alabamensis, Sida elliottii, and Silphium trifoliatum var. latifolium.