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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.
Nolina atopocarpa Bartlett

Florida beargrass

South Florida Status: Critically imperiled. One occurrence in northwestern Lee County and southwestern Charlotte County on non-conservation lands along Burnt Store Road.

Taxonomy: Monocotyledon; Agavaceae.

Habit: Perennial terrestrial herb.

Distribution: Endemic to Florida. Wunderlin (1998) reports it as occasional from the central panhandle to the central peninsula.

South Florida Distribution: Charlotte and Lee counties.

South Florida Habitats: Mesic flatwoods.

Protection Status: Listed as threatened by FDACS and as rare by FNAI.

Aids to Identification: It can be distinguished from N. brittoniana of central Florida by having leaves 2-4 mm wide, rather than 6-15 mm wide (Wunderlin, 1998).

References: Small, 1933a; Ward, 1978; Wunderlin, 1998; Coile, 2000.

Synonyms: N. georgiana Michx., misapplied.


Historical Context: Florida beargrass has been collected three times in South Florida. All three collections were made near the Charlotte County-Lee County line off State Road 765 (Burnt Store Road). Robert B. McCartney and Nancy Bissett made the first collection in 1989 in Charlotte County (s.n., USF), followed in 1991 by Steven L. Orzell and Edwin L. Bridges in Lee County (16497, USF) and Dorothy P. Zysko in Charlotte County (s.n., USF). Gann briefly surveyed the Charlotte County stations in 2000. The McCartney and Bissett station had been destroyed, but habitat was still present in the vicinity of the Zysko station, both on private property and in the Yucca Pen Unit of the Fred C. Babcock-Cecil M. Webb Wildlife Management Area. In 2001, Gann also attempted to locate the Orzell and Bridges station. Habitat still exists at the station, but it is in private ownership and is posted. Florida beargrass is assumed to be extant at one or both of the latter two stations.

Major Threats: Habitat destruction; fire suppression; exotic pest plant invasions.

Comments: Florida beargrass flowers in the spring, when surveys should be conducted.

Recommendations: • Survey appropriate habitats along Burnt Store Road in Charlotte and Lee counties, including the Yucca Pen Unit of Fred C. Babcock-Cecil M. Webb Wildlife Management Area. • Map known stations at least every three years. • Monitor known stations at least every year. • Continue acquisition projects to expand Fred C. Babcock-Cecil M. Webb Wildlife Management Area and Charlotte Harbor State Buffer Preserve along Burnt Store Road.