National Collection of Imperiled Plants

CPC National Collection Plant Profile

Photographer:

c. Billy B. Boothe

Search Alphabetical List Reference Finder CPC Home

CPC National Collection Plant Profile

Macbridea alba

Family:	Lamiaceae
Common Name:	white birds-in-a-nest
Author:	Chapman
Growth Habit:	Forb/herb
CPC Number:	2760

Distribution
Protection
Conservation
References

Profile Links

ITIS
Tropicos
PLANTS
Fish & WildLife
Forest Service

enlarge

Photographer: c. Billy B. Boothe

Macbridea alba is Not Sponsored

Primary custodian for this plant in the CPC National Collection of Endangered Plants is:

Bok Tower Gardens

S.K. Maddox contributed to this Plant Profile.

Macbridea alba

Macbridea alba, or white birds-in-a-nest, is quite conspicuous and unmistakable when in flower from May to July. The brilliant white flowers are clustered at the top of the plant in a short spike with bracts. These flowers give the plant its common name, as they look a bit like bird heads in a nest. Each flower has a green calyx about 0.5 inches long and the corolla is two-lipped, the upper lip hood-like. The flowers are borne atop the usually single-stemmed, odorless perennial herb with fleshy rhizomes (USFWS 1992). The plant grows to about 1 - 1.5 feet tall with erect, square stems. The 2 - 4 inch leaves are opposite on another in 6 -8 pairs. The leaves are thick and usually rough-hairy, widest above the middle, have rounded tips and are dotted with glands. The leaf stalks have narrow wings. (FNAI 2000)

Distribution & Occurrence

Top

State Range

Alabama
Florida

Habitat

White birds-in-a-nest is restricted to the Gulf coastal lowlands near the mouth of the Apalachicola River in the Florida Panhandle. This area provides the grassy habitat on poorly drained, infertile soils that is required by Macbridea alba. The wettest sites occupied by these plants are grassy seepage bogs on gentle slopes at the edge of forested or shrubby wetlands. The plants are also found in savanna, or less permanently wet sites. White birds-in-a-nest also occurs in dryer, mesic flatwoods sites with longleaf pine and runner oaks (USFWS 1992).

White birds-in-a-nest shares much the same habitat with two other Florida endangered species: Scutellaria floridana (Florida skullcap) and Stachydeoma graveolens (mock pennyroyal) (FNAI 2000).

Distribution

White birds-in-a-nest is endemic to the Florida Panhandle, and occurs in Bay, Gulf, Franklin, and Liberty Counties. This species has declined severely outside the Apalachicola National Forest (USFWS 1992).

Number Left

The most vigorous populations have been found in the Apalachicola National Forest, with the largest numbers of individuals of this species. The Florida Natural Areas Inventory survey shows the Forest as having 41 of the 63 known occurrences of this plant (USFWS 1992).

Protection

Top

Global Rank:	G2	7/11/1995	Guide to Global Ranks
Federal Status:	LT	10/24/1996	Guide to Federal Status
Recovery Plan:	Yes	6/22/1994

State/Area Protection

	State/Area	Rank	Status	Date
	Florida	G2	LE	4/1/1998

Conservation, Ecology & Research

Top

Ecological Relationships

Bumble bees pollinate this species. (Hanula 2002)

Threats

� Destruction of habitat.
� Suppression of fire and loss of open habitat.
� Development of cattle pastures.
� Silvicultural practices of the forest products industry and the Forest Service.
� Use of chemical herbicides on power line rights-of-way.
(USFWS 1992)

Current Research Summary

� Jim Hanula, an entomologist with the U.S. Forest Service, has studied the pollination of this species (Hanula 2002).
� A graduate student at Clemson University studied the seed production and germination of this species (Madsen 1999).

Current Management Summary

� US Forest Service has been monitoring Macbridea alba.
� Prescribed fire.
(USFWS 1992)

Research Management Needs

� Study the effects of growing season burns for the species.
� Utilize bush hogging or mowing to maintain power line rights-of-way, rather than using herbicides.
(USFWS 1992)

Ex Situ Needs

References

Top

Books (Single Authors)

Coile, N.C. 2000. Notes on Florida's Regulated Plant Index (Rule 5B-40), Botany Contribution 38. Gainesville, Florida: Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry.

Godfrey, R.K.; Wooten, J.W. 1981. Aquatic and wetland plants of southeastern United States: Dicotyledons. Athens: University Georgia Press. 933p.

Radford, A.E.; Ahles, H.E.; Bell, C.R. 1968. Manual of the vascular flora of the Carolinas. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. 1183p.

Small, J.K. 1933. Manual of the southeastern flora. New York, NY: Hafner Publishing Company. 1505p.

Ward, D.B. 1979. Rare and Endangered Biota of Florida Volume 5: Plants. Gainseville, FL: University Presses of Florida.

Wunderlin, R.P. 1998. Guide to the vascular plants of Florida. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. 806p.

Books (Sections)

Kartesz, J.T. 1999. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the U.S., Canada, and Greenland. In: Kartesz, J.T.; Meacham, C.A., editors. Synthesis of the North American Flora, Version 1.0. North Carolina Botanical Garden. Chapel Hill, NC.

Electronic Sources

(2002). Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants. [Web site] University of South Florida Institute for Systematic Botany. http://www.plantatlas.usf.edu/isb/default.htm. Accessed: 2008.

Denton, S. (2001). Photo Library of Native and Naturalized Plants of Florida. Biological Research Associates. http://www.biolresearch.com/Plants/index.php?id=C. Accessed: 2002.

Hanula, J. (2002). Macbridea alba (McDaniel), or white-birds-in-a-nest. U.S. Forest Service. http://www.srs.fs.fed.us/4505/hanula/pollinator_studies/MAinfo.htm. Accessed: 2002.

Journal Articles

Pitts-Singer, T.L.; Hanula, J.L.; Walker, J.L. 2002. Insect pollinators of three rare plants in a Florida longleaf pine forest. Florida Entomologist. 85, 2: 308-316.

Schulze, D.M.; Walker, J.L; Spira, T.P. 2002. Germination and seed bank studies of Macbridea alba (Lamiaceae), a Federally threatened plant. Castanea. 67: 280-289.

USFWS. 1990. Proposed threatened status for three Florida plants. Federal Register. 55, 243: 51936-51940.

USFWS. 1992. Threatened status for three Florida plants. Federal Register. 57, 90: 19813-19819.

Reports

Kral, R. 1983. A report on some rare, threatened or endangered forest related vascular plants of the south. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Forest Service. p.718. USFS technical publication R8-TP2, . Vol. 1.

USFWS. 1994. Recovery Plan for Four Plants of the Lower Apalachicola Region, Florida: Euphorbia telephioides (Telephus spurge), Macbridea alba (white bird-in-a-nest), Pinguicula ionantha (Godfrey's butterwort), and Scutellaria floridana (Florida skullcap). Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. p.32.

Theses

Madsen, D. 1999. Seed production and germination studies of Macbridea alba. [Master's Thesis]: Clemson University. Clemson, SC.

Search Other National Collection Profiles

This profile was updated on 3/4/2010