Tall Barbara's-buttons - Marshallia legrandii Weakley

Oak Barrens Barbara's-buttons - Marshallia legrandii

This newly described species is known from just three populations in Granville County, NC and Halifax Co. VA. It is associated with diabase bedrock and greenstone, which is rare in the area. An alternate common name, taken from its habitat, is Oak Barrens Barbara's-buttons. This species is named after the person who first noted it was something different, Dr. Harry E. LeGrand, Jr. of the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program. It took from about 1986 to 2012 for the species to be formally described.

Granville Co., NC 5/20/2012.

For more details, including how to separate it from the similar Marshallia obovata and Marshallia grandiflora, see:

Weakley, A.S. and D.B. Poindexter. 2012. A new species of Marshallia (Asteraceae, Helenieae, Marshalliinae) from mafic woodlands and barrens of North Carolina and Virginia. Phytoneuron 2012-105: 1–17.

Granville Co., NC 5/20/2012.

Granville Co., NC 5/20/2012.

Granville Co., NC 5/20/2012.

Granville Co., NC 5/20/2012.

Granville Co., NC 5/20/2012.

Granville Co., NC 5/20/2012.

A late opening flower. In 2012, thanks to a controlled burn, the Marshallia population at this location was thriving, flowering prolifically and earlier.

Granville Co., NC 5/25/2009.

All photographs and text ©2013 by Will Cook unless otherwise noted.