Pedicularis furbishiae | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Lamiales |
Family: | Orobanchaceae |
Genus: | Pedicularis |
Species: | P. furbishiae |
Binomial name | |
Pedicularis furbishiae | |
Pedicularis furbishiae, or Furbish's lousewort, is a perennial herb found only on the shores of the upper Saint John River in Maine and New Brunswick. Furbish's lousewort was first recognized as a new species by Maine naturalist and botanical artist Kate Furbish (who named it Furbish's wood betony) in 1880. [3] It is considered an endangered species in the United States and Canada, and is threatened by habitat destruction, as well as riverside development, forestry, littering and recreational use of the riverbank. It was formerly in the family Scrophulariaceae, but is now placed in the family Orobanchaceae. Once thought to be extinct, it is considered a Lazarus taxon.
Furbish's lousewort is not distinguished by large and showy flowers. The Nature Trust of New Brunswick says it "averages 75 cm in height. During its first few years of growth, it forms a basal rosette of deeply incised fern like leaves. Usually after three years the lousewort begins to flower, often from a single, slightly hairy and reddish tinged stem with a few branches near the top. Furbish's lousewort flowers are small, yellow and snap-dragon like. They are clustered in a short cylindrical head, and open sequentially from the lower to the upper-most between July and August." [4]
Furbish's lousewort grows on the bank of the Saint John River in three areas of New Brunswick and at 18 sites in Maine. [5] It needs moist, unstable, semi-shaded, eroding banks subject to flooding, and ice-scouring. In this way, it is typical of an entire group of shoreline species (e.g. Sabatia kennedyana , Platanthera flava ) that grow in wet meadows created by spring flooding and ice scour, combined with summer low water periods. [6] Its range extends 225 km (140 mi) from "the town of Andover, New Brunswick ... upstream to a point 2.4 km (1.5 mi) past the confluence with the Big Black River in Aroostook County, Maine". [7] [8] Despite only being found in a limited range today, previous records show it was found throughout the Aroostook River, but recent surveys have found no such populations. [2]
Because it is endangered and endemic to the area, development projects have been restricted to preserve its habitat. For example, the Dickey-Lincoln dam, a $227 million hydroelectric project proposed on the upper Saint John River in 1974, [9] was deauthorized by Congress in 1986 after years of study, because the dam would have flooded 88,000 acres (360 km2) of Maine forest and severely reduced the lousewort's habitat. [10] [11] Some criticized ending the dam project to protect the lousewort; Time magazine called the idea "downright silly" in 1977. [12] While thought extinct at the time the dam was proposed, it was rediscovered in 1976 by C.D. Richards while doing surveys to determine the environmental impact of the dam. [13] It was later discovered in the Saint John River Valley in New Brunswick by Dr. George Stirrett and Frederick Wallace Tribe, prompting the Canadian government to recognize its endangered status in 1980. [14] In recognition of their efforts, both Stirrett and Tribe were awarded Stewardship Awards from the province of New Brunswick. Additionally, the George M. Stirrett Nature Preserve was established in 1992, and a prominent road in Perth-Andover was named F. Tribe Road.
The Aroostook War, or the Madawaska War, was a military and civilian-involved confrontation in 1838–1839 between the United States and the United Kingdom over the international boundary between the British colony of New Brunswick and the U.S. state of Maine. The term "war" was rhetorical; local militia units were called out but never engaged in actual combat. The event is best described as an international incident.
Perth-Andover is a former village in Victoria County, New Brunswick, Canada. It held village status prior to 2023. It is now part of the village of Southern Victoria.
The Aroostook River is a 112-mile-long (180 km) tributary of the Saint John River in the U.S. state of Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Its basin is the largest sub-drainage of the Saint John River.
The Saint John River is a 673-kilometre-long (418 mi) river flowing within the Dawnland region from headwaters in the Notre Dame Mountains near the Maine-Quebec border through western New Brunswick to the northwest shore of the Bay of Fundy. Eastern Canada's longest river, its drainage basin is one of the largest on the east coast at about 55,000 square kilometres (21,000 sq mi). This “River of the Good Wave” and its tributary drainage basin formed the territorial countries of the Wolastoqiyik and Passamaquoddy First Nations prior to European colonization, and it remains a cultural centre of the Wabanaki Confederacy to this day.
The dwarf wedgemussel is an endangered species of freshwater mussel, an aquatic bivalve mollusk in the family Unionidae, the river mussels.
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Pedicularis is a genus of perennial green root parasite plants currently placed in the family Orobanchaceae.
The North Maine Woods is the northern geographic area of the state of Maine in the United States. The thinly populated region is overseen by a combination of private individual and private industrial owners and state government agencies, and is divided into 155 unincorporated townships within the NMW management area. There are no towns or paved roads.
Aroostook is a former village in Victoria County, New Brunswick, Canada. It held village status prior to 2023. It is now part of the village of Southern Victoria.
The Atlantic Northeast is a geographic and cultural region of eastern North America bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and (loosely) by the Saint Lawrence River to the northwest. Though no official boundary exists, the most common conception includes the Maritime provinces, southern Quebec, and the island of Newfoundland in Canada, and the New England region of the United States. Broader conceptions reach further north into Canada, including Labrador and the Côte-Nord region of Quebec. Narrower conceptions may be limited to the coastal areas east of the Appalachian Mountains. The variety of definitions can be attributed to overlapping commonalities of the region's history, culture, geography, ecology, society, and other factors.
Catherine 'Kate' Furbish was an American botanist who collected, classified and illustrated the native flora of Maine. She devoted over 60 years of her life, traveling thousands of miles throughout her home state and creating very accurate drawings and watercolor paintings of the plants she found.
The Tinker Dam is a hydroelectric dam built in Tinker on the Aroostook River in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, and operated jointly by WPS Energy and NB Power. Its power house has a capacity of 34 megawatts.
Pedicularis groenlandica is a showy flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae commonly known as elephant's head, little pink elephant, elephantella, or similar common names inspired by the resemblance of the flower to the head of an elephant. It is also less commonly known as butterfly tongue for the long beak on the flower. Like many other plants in genus Pedicularis, it is a parasitic plant and depends on host plants to survive.
Zelenci Springs is a nature reserve near the town of Kranjska Gora, in the far northwestern corner of Slovenia. It is the source of the Sava Dolinka River, a tributary of the Danube.
Pedicularis centranthera is a species of flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae known by the common names dwarf lousewort and Great Basin lousewort. It is native to the western United States from eastern Oregon and California to Colorado and New Mexico, where it grows in sagebrush and other basin and plateau habitat. It is a perennial herb producing several short stems a few centimeters tall from a basal caudex. The leaves are up to 20 centimeters long, lance-shaped and divided into many overlapping toothed, wrinkled, or fringed lobes. The inflorescence is a short raceme bearing many long, protruding, club-shaped flowers. Each flower may exceed 4 centimeters in length and is white or pale purple with dark purple tips on the wide ends of its upper and lower lips. The sepals of the flowers are shorter and hairy. The fruit is a capsule around centimeter long containing seeds with netlike surfaces.
Pedicularis contorta is a species of flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae known by the common names coiled lousewort and curved-beak lousewort. It is native to western North America, including southwestern Canada and the northwestern United States, where it grows in moist mountainous habitat, such as bogs, shady forests, and meadows. It is a perennial herb producing one or more stems up to 40 centimetres (16 in) tall from a caudex. The leaves are up to 18 centimetres (7.1 in) long, lance-shaped to oblong, and divided into many linear lobes which may be toothed or smooth-edged. The inflorescence is a raceme of flowers occupying the top of the stem. Each flower is a centimeter long or slightly longer, white to yellowish in color, and divided into a coiled or curved beak-like upper lip and a flat, three-lobed lower lip. The fruit is a capsule up to a centimeter long containing seeds with netted surfaces.
Pedicularis dudleyi is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae known by the common name Dudley's lousewort. It is endemic to central California, where it is known from about ten scattered occurrences along the coast and in the coastal mountain ranges. It has been found in three locations along the Central California coast. The species was named for 19th-century Stanford University botanist William Dudley.
Pityopsis ruthii is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name Ruth's golden aster. It is endemic to the US state of Tennessee, where it is known only from Polk County. It is threatened by the modification of its habitat. It is a federally listed endangered species.
The Big Black Site is an archaeological site in remote northwestern Aroostook County, Maine. The 1-acre (0.40 ha) site, located near the mouth of the Big Black River exhibits evidence of occupation and use over a period of several thousand years, ending in historic times. The site is significant as a well-preserved site on an undammed river, and was, at the time of its listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, expected to yield significant information about the area's prehistory.
Pedicularis palustris, commonly known as marsh lousewort or red rattle, is a plant species in the family Orobanchaceae. It is native to central and northern Europe and Asia where it grows in wetlands and boggy habitats. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of least concern.