Furbish's lousewort facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Furbish's lousewort |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification |
Furbish's lousewort, also known by its scientific name Pedicularis furbishiae, is a very special plant. It is a perennial herb, which means it lives for many years and has soft, green stems. This rare plant grows only along the banks of the upper Saint John River. You can find it in parts of Maine in the United States and New Brunswick in Canada.
A naturalist and artist named Kate Furbish first discovered this plant in 1880. She was the one who named it Furbish's wood betony. Today, Furbish's lousewort is an endangered species in both the United States and Canada. It faces threats like its home being destroyed, new buildings along the river, logging, littering, and people using the riverbanks for fun. This plant used to be in the figwort family, but now it belongs to the broomrape family, Orobanchaceae.
Because Furbish's lousewort is endangered and only found in this specific area, big building projects have been stopped to protect its home. For example, a large hydroelectric dam project called the Dickey-Lincoln dam was planned in 1974. This dam would have flooded a huge area of forest in Maine. After many years of study, the U.S. Congress decided in 1986 not to build the dam. This decision was made because the dam would have greatly reduced the lousewort's habitat.
Some people thought stopping the dam for a plant was silly. At the time the dam was first proposed, many thought the plant was extinct. But in 1976, a scientist named C.D. Richards rediscovered it while studying the dam's possible environmental impact. Because it was once thought to be gone forever, it is sometimes called a Lazarus taxon, like something that came back to life!
Contents
What Furbish's Lousewort Looks Like
Furbish's lousewort does not have huge, colorful flowers that stand out a lot. It usually grows to be about 75 centimeters (about 30 inches) tall.
How it Grows
- When the plant is very young, it forms a flat cluster of leaves close to the ground. This is called a basal rosette.
- These leaves look a bit like fern leaves and are deeply cut.
- Usually, after about three years, the lousewort starts to flower.
- It often grows a single stem that is slightly hairy and reddish.
- This stem might have a few branches near the top.
Its Flowers
- The flowers of Furbish's lousewort are small and yellow.
- They look a bit like snapdragon flowers.
- These flowers grow in a tight, cylinder-shaped cluster.
- They open one by one, starting from the bottom of the cluster and moving upwards.
- You can usually see them flowering between July and August.
Where Furbish's Lousewort Lives
Furbish's lousewort lives along the banks of the Saint John River. It can be found in three areas in New Brunswick, Canada, and at 18 different spots in Maine, USA.
Its Perfect Home
- This plant needs a very specific kind of home to grow well.
- It likes riverbanks that are moist and not too stable.
- It also needs some shade.
- The banks must be eroding (wearing away) and often flooded.
- It also needs areas that are "ice-scoured." This means the ice moving in the river during spring can scrape and clear the banks.
Why This Habitat is Important
- This type of habitat is important for many other shoreline plants too.
- These plants, like Sabatia kennedyana and Platanthera flava, grow in wet meadows.
- These wet meadows are created by the spring floods and ice, combined with low water levels in the summer.
- The area where Furbish's lousewort grows stretches for about 225 kilometers (140 miles).
- This range goes from the town of Andover, New Brunswick, upstream to a point about 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) past where the Big Black River joins in Aroostook County, Maine.
See also
In Spanish: Pedicularis furbishiae para niños
