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Tools for Mapping, Monitoring, and Conserving Rare and Uncommon Wetland Plant Species

Grace Glynn, Botanist

Vermont Natural Heritage Inventory

grace.glynn@vermont.gov

Bird’s eye primrose (Primula mistassinica, S1, Threatened)

Aaron Marcus, Botanist

Dubois & King

amarcus@dubois-king.com

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  • S2S3 FAC
  • Seepage forests, edges of seasonal brooks in somewhat open, enriched woods
  • Circumboreal distribution but potentially declining

Long-bracted green orchid (Coeloglossum viride)

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very rare

regionally rare

rare

uncommon

historical

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VT Wetland Rules

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VT Wetland Rules

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VT Wetland Rules: Natural Communities

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How do we track the status of rare species?

  • Inventory!
  • Natureserve methodology used to assign rarity ranks

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How do we track the status of rare species?

  • Number and Extent of populations
  • Viability of populations
  • Threats
  • Trends

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Counting ramets & genets

  • Eleocharis diandra Wright’s spikerush
  • S2 G2 OBL
  • Carex chordorrhiza rope root sedge
  • S1 G5 Endangered OBL

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How to submit spatial data

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Rare & Uncommon Wetland Plants

  • Scheuchzeria palustris Pod-grass
  • S2 G5 Threatened OBL

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Rare & Uncommon Wetland Plants

  • Scheuchzeria palustris Pod-grass
  • S2 G5 Threatened OBL

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Rare & Uncommon Wetland Plants

  • Justicia americana Common Water-willow
  • SX G5 OBL

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Rare & Uncommon Wetland Plants

  • Sparganium natans Arctic bur-reed
  • S2S3 Threatened OBL

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Rare & Uncommon Wetland Plants

  • Platanthera obtusata Small bog orchid
  • S1 FACW
  • Three extant sites, twelve historical

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  • Carex trichocarpa Hairy Sedge
  • S3 G4 OBL
  • Carex atherodes Awned Sedge
  • S1 G5 OBL vs.

Rare & Uncommon Wetland Plants

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  • Carex atherodes Awned Sedge
  • S1 G5 OBL vs.
  • Carex trichocarpa Hairy Sedge
  • S3 G4 OBL

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Rare & Uncommon Wetland Plants

  • Triantha glutinosa Sticky False Asphodel
  • S1 G5 Threatened OBL

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  • Triantha glutinosa Sticky False Asphodel
  • S1 G5 Threatened OBL
  • Calcareous Riverside Seep habitat
  • Threatened by extreme summer flooding events

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  • Triantha glutinosa Sticky False Asphodel
  • S1 G5 Threatened OBL
  • Post-flood declines

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Rare & Uncommon Wetland Plants

  • Agalinis paupercula Smooth Agalinis S2 G5 OBL

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  • Agalinis paupercula Smooth Agalinis S2 G5 OBL

Rare & Uncommon Wetland Plants

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Rare & Uncommon Wetland Plants

  • Carex schweinitzii Schweinitzi’s Sedge S2 G3G4 OBL

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Rare & Uncommon Wetland Plants

  • Carex schweinitzii Schweinitz’s Sedge S2 G3G4 OBL

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Rare & Uncommon Wetland Plants

  • Carex schweinitzii Schweinitz’s Sedge S2 G3G4 OBL

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Ophioglossum pusillum �(adders-tongue fern) S3—now S1 �FACW

  • Not monitored, then S3, then S2S3, then S1, and we were about to declare it Historical...
  • Declining across New England and probably the northeast. Clearly declining in Vermont.
  • Habitat: fens and swamps throughout all of Vermont. Wet parts of hayfields pastures, wet meadows. Quarries.

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Northern Adder’s-Tongue fern (Ophioglossum pusillum)

Photos by Matt Peters / Windham County

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�Questions?

amarcus@dubois-king.com

grace.glynn@vermont.gov