Fothergilla major Lodd.:
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Ala., Ark., Ga., N.C., S.C., Tenn.

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Global Range: Ranging from central North Carolina west to eastern Tennessee, south to northcentral Alabama, and disjunct in Arkansas (Wealey, 1996).

Shrubs , 7-65 dm; branches robust. Leaves: stipules 2.8-7(-10.2) mm; petioles 3-10(-18) mm. Leaf blade broadly elliptic or somewhat orbiculate to obovate, asymmetric, 2.5-13.5 × 4.2-12.5 cm, base rounded to truncate, rarely cuneate, often oblique, proximal margins entire, distal margins coarsely sinuate to repand, rarely entire, apex short-acuminate to rounded and mucronate; surfaces abaxially glaucous or green, adaxially green, both surfaces stellate-pubescent or nearly glabrous; veins (4-)5-6(-7) pairs. Inflorescences nearly sessile to short-pedunculate, 3-6 × 2-3 cm. Flowers : calyx lobes persistent in fruit; stamens (10-)22-34; filaments 6-17 mm. Fruiting spikes 3.5-7 × 1.5-2.5 cm. Capsules 5.5-13 mm. Seeds 5-6(-8) mm, apex pointed. 2 n = 72.

Fothergilla monticola Ashe

Isotype for Fothergilla monticola Ashe
Catalog Number: US 327563
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Verified from the card file of type specimens
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): W. W. Ashe
Locality: North Carolina, United States, North America

Isotype for Fothergilla monticola Ashe
Catalog Number: US 772280
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Verified from the card file of type specimens
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): W. W. Ashe
Locality: North Carolina, United States, North America

Bluffs, dry rocky woodlands, talus slopes, riverbanks, upper piedmont to mountains; 150-1300m.

Comments: Dry ridgetop forests of middle elevation ridges in the mountains, especially along the Blue Ridge Escarpment, summits and upper slopes of Piedmont monadnocks, north-facing bluffs in the lower Piedmont (Weakley, 1996).

Flowering spring (Apr-May).

The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.


No available public DNA sequences.

Download FASTA File

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 2
Specimens with Barcodes: 2
Species With Barcodes: 1

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N3 - Vulnerable

Rounded Global Status Rank: G3 - Vulnerable

Reasons: Fothergilla major is rare throughout its range of five southeastern states (disjunct in Arkansas). This taxon does occur in a national protected area in Tennessee and at least two state parks in North Carolina.

Comments: Fothergilla major has a somwehat limited range and number of known occurrences, making it vulnerable to land-use conversion, habitat fragmentation, and forest management practices; conversion of natural forests to commercial forest land has probably impacted the species (Southern Appalachian Species Viability Project 2002). Habitat is unsuitable for most uses (Tennessee Element Ranking Form, Edwin Bridges, 1983).

The disjunct occurrence of Fothergilla major in Arkansas is a recent discovery.