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*The following is based on text excerpted from: Gann, G.D., K.A. Bradley, & S.W. Woodmansee. 2002. Rare Plants of South Florida: Their History, Conservation, and Restoration. The Institute for Regional Conservation: Miami. For the original text, click on the link above and go to the chapter and page number listed in the Update field below. Cite this page as: Gann, G.D., and S.W. Woodmansee. 2006-2013. Species Account Update, Floristic Inventory of South Florida Database Online. The Institute for Regional Conservation. Delray Beach, Florida. If no Update field is displayed, then cite as the original publication.

Acacia choriophylla Benth.

Cinnecord

South Florida Status: Extirpated within natural range. Last verifiable native population vouchered in 1968 on North Key Largo.

Taxonomy: Dicotyledon; Fabaceae.

Habit: Tree.

Distribution: Native to South Florida, the Bahamas, and Cuba.

South Florida Distribution: Native to the Monroe County Keys, specifically to North Key Largo. Apparently naturalized from cultivated plants elsewhere in the Florida Keys and on the South Florida mainland.

South Florida Habitats: Rockland hammocks.

Protection Status: Listed as endangered by FDACS.

Aids to Identification: Scurlock (1987) has color photos; Nelson (1994) has a color photo; Nelson (1996) has an illustration; the IRC Website has a color photo.

References: Alexander, 1969; Long & Lakela, 1976; Little, 1978; Correll & Correll, 1982; Scurlock, 1987; Isely, 1990; Nelson, 1994; Nelson, 1996; Wunderlin, 1998; Coile, 2000.

Synonyms: None.


Historical Context: Taylor Alexander first collected cinnecord in 1967 in Oak Trail Hammock on North Key Largo (s.n., NY, USF), in what is now Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammocks Botanical State Park. Alexander (1969) stated that it was found in an undisturbed hammock with no signs of human activity. George N. Avery vouchered this station again in 1968 (449, US). Oak Trail Hammock was heavily impacted by logging, fires, and clearing in the 1970s and early 1980s (Weiner, 1980 as amended), and cinnecord was probably extirpated from North Key Largo during that period. Gann and Florida Park Service biologist Janice A. Duquesnel surveyed this hammock in 2000, but no cinnecord plants were observed.

There have been other reports of cinnecord from the Florida Keys, but none that we have been able to verify as native populations. Cinnecord has been widely cultivated in South Florida since the 1960s and has escaped from cultivation, both in the Florida Keys and on the mainland. It would be difficult to prove that newly discovered stations of cinnecord were not populations naturalized from cultivated plants. As far as we are aware, germplasm from the Florida plants was not conserved.


Recommendations: · Consider reintroduction to Oak Trail Hammock in Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammocks Botanical State Park. · Review for listing by FNAI.

Update: George D. Gann, Janice A. Duquesnel and James G. Duquesnel recently observed a tree in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park on Key Largo that may represent progeny of the original population.