American chaffseed

Listed: 9/29/1992

Status since listing: Unknown

The American chaffseed (Schwalbea americana) is a hemiparasitic plant (in a monotypic genus) that feeds on the roots of other plants [1]. It formerly occurred at 149 sites from Cape Cod, Massachusetts down the Atlantic Coast (except Rhode Island) and around the Gulf Coast to Texas (except Louisiana and Mississippi). A few inland populations occurred in Massachusetts, New York, Kentucky and Tennessee. The chaffseed is primarily, but not exclusively, a wetland species. It prefers acidic, sandy or peaty soils in open pine flatwoods, longleaf pine/oak sandhills, streamhead pocosins, pitch pine lowland forests, seepage bogs, palustrine pine savannahs, and ecotonal areas between peaty wetlands and xeric sandy soils.

Under pressure from residential development, road-building, inappropriate mowing regimes, over-collection and fire suppression, it was reduced to 72 extant and 11 undocumented sites by 1995 [1]. This is considerably more than the 18 sites thought to be extant when the species was listed as endangered in 1992, but still leaves the species much reduced from its historical level and vulnerable to extinction. The sites known as of 1995 were in New Jersey (1), North Carolina (18), South Carolina (42), Georgia (10), and Florida (one). More sites may have been found since 1995.

NEW JERSEY: The chaffseed declined from 19 historical sites to four by the early 1970s to two in 1980. [1]. One of these two sites (The Cape May site) was destroyed by road construction in 1986, leaving a single remaining site in Brendan T. Byrne State Forest (formerly known as "Lebanon State Forest") at a sandy, mowed roadside edge of a pitch pine-dominated, lowland Pine Barrens forest. The population declined during the 1980s due to recreational trampling, collection and inappropriate mowing. In 1993 a management agreement was established between the State Forest, the cranberry grower leasing the site, the county and the New Jersey Office of Natural Lands Management. In accordance with the agreement, vehicle barriers have been erected, the mowing season was changed, and the site is kept open through thinning and mowing of shrubs. These actions appeared to have stabilized the population as of 1995.

NORTH CAROLINA: As of 1995, 17 of the state’s 18 extant sites occurred on the U.S. Army's Fort Bragg [1]. Frequent fires ignited by bombing activity reverse brush and tree encroachment, to the benefit of the chaffseed.

SOUTH CAROLINA: As of 1995, 42 of 53 historical sites were known to still exist [1]. The status of most of the remaining 11 is unknown. Ten of the extant sites are on the Francis Marion National Forest, 17 are on private property, one is on South Carolina Heritage property, and eight are of unknown ownership. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service believed as of 1995 that all activities on the National Forest were carefully planned to protect the chaffseed. Most of the private land sites are on quail plantations, which are routinely burned to maintain open understories and thus benefit the chaffseed as well.

GEORGIA: Ten of 14 historic sites were considered occupied as of 1995 [1]. Six are located on the Ichauway Plantation, a 28,000-acre private ecological reserve in Baker County. Ichauway is predominantly vegetated with a natural stand of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris). All populations on Ichauway are protected, and four of the populations are being included in a five-year research study on the life history, seed banks and experimental management. Two sites are located on another private quail plantation in Dougherty County; one of them is included in the Ichauway studies. The remaining two sites are on private lands managed for quail in Baker and Worth counties. It is believed that burning regimes used to maintain quail populations also benefit the chaffseed.

FLORIDA: Eight of ten historical sites were known to be extirpated, and a ninth was suspected extirpated, as of 1995 [1]. The extant occurrence in Leon County is on private property managed for bobwhite quail. The USFWS believed that management practices as of 1995 (e.g. prescribed burning) would maintain the species.

The lack of systematic surveys precludes determination of the species trend between 1992, when it was placed on the endangered species list, and 2005.

[1] U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1995. American Chaffseed (Schwalbea americana) Recovery Plan. Hadley, MA. 62 pp.