''Hypericum cumulicola'' is a rare species of flowering plant in the family

Hypericaceae Hypericaceae is a plant family in the order Malpighiales, comprising six to nine genera and up to 700 species, and commonly known as the St. John's wort family. Members are found throughout the world apart from extremely cold or dry habitats. '' ...

known by the common name highlands scrub hypericum, or highlands scrub St. John's wort. 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 ...

, where it is threatened by habitat loss and degradation.''Hypericum cumulicola''.
Center for Plant Conservation. It is a federally listed

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

of the United States. This is a perennial herb with wiry, sometimes woody, stems growing from a

taproot A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproo ...

and reaching about 60 centimeters in maximum length. The leaves have slightly succulent blades which are linear in shape and measure just a few millimeters long. Flowers occur on the upper branches in a scattered fashion. Each has five yellow petals 3 to 4 millimeters long and many

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s at the center.''Hypericum cumulicola''.
The Nature Conservancy. The flowers open in the morning and are closed by midday. They are visited most often by bees of genus ''

Dialictus ''Dialictus'' is a subgenus of sweat bees belonging to the genus ''Lasioglossum''. Most of the members of this subgenus have a metallic appearance, while some are non-metallic. There are over 630 species worldwide. They are commonly found in the ...

''.Boyle, O. D. and E. S. Menges. (2001)
Pollinator visitation to ''Hypericum cumulicola'' (Hypericaceae), a rare Florida scrub endemic.
''Florida Scientist'' 64:2 107. The plant only occurs in

Highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Albania * Dukagjin Highlands Armenia * Armenian Highlands Australia *Sou ...

and Polk Counties in Florida. It is one of the many endemics that are native to the

Lake Wales Ridge The Lake Wales Ridge, sometimes referred to as the Mid-Florida Ridge,Eastern States Archaeological Federation. ''Archaeology of Eastern North America, Volume 11'', p. 54 is a sand ridge running for about 150 miles south to north in Central Florida. ...

. There are 66 occurrences known, but only 31 are on protected land.USFWS
''Hypericum cumulicola'' Five-year Review.
September 2008. Even land that is protected may be improperly managed, however. 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 ...

, an endangered habitat type. The substrate is white sand. The plant may grow alongside other rare scrub vegetation, such as the wedge-leaved button snakeroot (''Eryngium cuneifolium''). The plant is a gap specialist, growing in gaps in the tree and shrub layer where sunlight can reach it. These gaps in the woody vegetation of the scrub are maintained by periodic

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...

s; one of the main threats to its existence is

fire suppression Wildfire suppression is a range of firefighting tactics used to suppress wildfires. Firefighting efforts in wild land areas require different techniques, equipment, and training from the more familiar structure fire fighting found in populated a ...

. In the absence of a normal

fire regime A fire regime is the pattern, frequency, and intensity of the bushfires and wildfires that prevail in an area over long periods of time. It is an integral part of fire ecology, and renewal for certain types of ecosystems. A fire regime describes th ...

, the taller and woody vegetation grows up and shades out the plants of the understory. The plant is fire-dependent.Quintana-Ascensio, P. F., et al. (2003)
A fire-explicit population viability analysis of ''Hypericum cumulicola'' in Florida rosemary scrub.
''Conservation Biology'' 17:2 433. It resprouts after fire, becoming more abundant in seasons after fire moves through an area. Habitat is also lost outright when it is claimed for development. The land is used for residential and

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

uses, including

ranch A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most often ...

es and citrus groves. Land management practices that could benefit the plant include less suppression of fire, avoiding fire during

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

times, formation of gaps in the scrub through other means, and avoiding disturbance of the soil crust, which may have a protective effect on the

seedling A seedling is a young sporophyte developing out of a plant embryo from a seed. Seedling development starts with germination of the seed. A typical young seedling consists of three main parts: the radicle (embryonic root), the hypocotyl (embry ...

References

External links

USDA Plants Profile
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5958079 cumulicola Plants described in 1924 Endemic flora of Florida