''Garberia'' is a

monotypic genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

, containing the single species ''Garberia heterophylla''.''Garberia''.
Flora of North America. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in the United States, where it is distributed in the northern and central counties.''Garberia heterophylla''.
NatureServe 2013. The plant is known commonly as garberia and Garber's scrub starts.

Description

This species is a

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

growing about 1 to 2.5 meters tall, with erect, branching stems. The branches are glandular and powdery or lightly hairy in texture when new, and grooved when dry. In a young plant leaves near the base of the stem may be oppositely arranged, but at maturity the branches are mostly lined with alternate leaves. The gray-green blades are glandular, and sticky to powdery when new. They are up to 3.5 centimeters long. The cylindrical

flower heads A pseudanthium (Greek for "false flower"; ) is an inflorescence that resembles a flower. The word is sometimes used for other structures that are neither a true flower nor a true inflorescence. Examples of pseudanthia include flower heads, compos ...

are up to about half a centimeter wide and are borne in open

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

s. Each head usually contains five aromatic pink or purple disc florets up to a centimeter long. The tips expand into five lobes and the narrow to threadlike

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

branches protrude. The fruit is a rough-textured, ribbed cypsela with a pappus of many bristles.''Garberia heterophylla''.
Flora of North America. The fruits remain on the plant, and their long, brown pappi make the shrub stand out among other plants during the winter. The pappi also allow dispersal of the seeds on the wind.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Garberia'' was named by

Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessarily mutually excl ...

in honour of American botanist Abram Paschal Garber.

Ecology

This plant occurs in the

Florida scrub Florida sand pine scrub is an endangered subtropical forest ecoregion found throughout Florida in the United States. It is found on coastal and inland sand ridges and is characterized by an evergreen xeromorphic plant community dominated by shrub ...

and related habitat types, including

flatwoods Flatwoods, pineywoods, pine savannas and longleaf pine-wiregrass ecosystem are terms that refer to an ecological community in the southeastern coastal plain of North America. Flatwoods are an ecosystem maintained by wildfire or prescribed fire an ...

, coastal

dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

s, and ridges, hills and prairie alongside

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

s and

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

s such as

sand pine ''Pinus clausa'' is a species of pine endemic to the Southeastern United States. Its common names include sand pine, Florida spruce pine, Alabama pine, and scrub pine. Distribution The tree is found in two separate locations, one across central ...

. It grows in dry, sandy soils low in organic matter. It may flower almost year-round, but its main flowering season is fall. Garberia provides

nectar Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...

for many native

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...

s, including '' Agapostemon splendens'', '' Anthidiellum notatum'', '' Augochlora pura'', ''

Augochlorella aurata ''Augochlorella aurata'' is a species of Halictidae, sweat bee (bees attracted by the salt in human sweat) in the family Halictidae. It is found in North America east of the Rocky Mountains. The body is a brilliant green metallic color, diffused ...

'', '' Augochloropsis metallica'', ''

Bombus impatiens ''Bombus impatiens'', the common eastern bumble bee, is the most commonly encountered bumblebee across much of eastern North America. They can be found in the Eastern temperate forest region of the eastern United States, southern Canada, and the ...

'', '' Coelioxys mexicana'', '' Coelioxys sayi'', ''

Colletes mandibularis The genus ''Colletes'' (plasterer bees) is a large group of ground-nesting bees of the family Colletidae. They occur primarily in the Northern Hemisphere. They tend to be solitary, but sometimes nest close together in aggregations. Species i ...

'', '' Dialictus miniatulus'', '' Dialictus nymphalis'', '' Dialictus placidensis'', '' Epeolus carolinus'', ''

Megachile mendica ''Megachile mendica'' is a species of bee in the family Megachilidae Megachilidae is a cosmopolitan family of mostly solitary bees. Both that their pollen-carrying structure (called a '' scopa'') is restricted to the ventral surface of the ...

'', '' Megachile pruina'', '' Megachile xylocopoides'', and ''

Xylocopa virginica ''Xylocopa virginica'', sometimes referred to as the eastern carpenter bee, extends through the eastern United States and into Canada. They are Sympatry, sympatric with ''Xylocopa micans'' in much of southeastern United States. They nest in variou ...

''.Deyrup, M., et al. (2002)
The diversity and floral hosts of bees at the Archbold Biological Station, Florida (Hymenoptera: Apoidea).
''Insecta Mundi'' 16(1–3) 87-120.

Classification

''Garberia'' is in the tribe

Eupatorieae Eupatorieae is a tribe of over 2000D.J.N.Hind & H.E.Robinson. 2007. Tribe Eupatorieae In: ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'' vol.VIII. (Joachim W.Kadereit & Charles Jeffrey, volume editors. Klaus Kubitzky, general editor). Springer-Ve ...

of the aster family. Like other members of this tribe, the flower heads have

disc floret The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

s and no ray florets. It is also in the subtribe Liatrinae along with, for example, '' Carphephorus''. ''Garberia'' is closely related to the genus ''

Liatris ''Liatris'' (), commonly known as gayfeather and blazing star. is a genus of flowering plants in the tribe Eupatorieae within the family Asteraceae native to North America (Canada, United States, Mexico and the Bahamas). Some species are used ...

'', but can be distinguished because it is a shrub instead of an

herbaceous perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also widel ...

and has a different

karyotype A karyotype is the general appearance of the complete set of metaphase chromosomes in the cells of a species or in an individual organism, mainly including their sizes, numbers, and shapes. Karyotyping is the process by which a karyotype is disce ...

References

External links

*Gilman, E. F
''Garberia heterophylla''.
FPS-221. Environmental Horticulture, Florida Cooperative Extension, University of Florida IFAS. Published 1999. Revised 2007. {{Taxonbar, from1=Q15602759, from2=Q5234144 Eupatorieae Monotypic Asteraceae genera Endemic flora of Florida