Field Guide

Agalinis gattingeri

There is nothing false about the ephemeral and modest beauty of the round-stemmed false foxglove

There is nothing false about this exceptionally interesting and appealing member of the Orobanchaceae family. This annual herb, also known as Gattinger’s agalinis, is a true and pure beauty, all the more so because it is so fleeting: the plant’s delicate pink flowers each last only for a single day.

Sadly, Agalinis gattingeri is in decline throughout North America and most particularly in Canada. Endangered according to the federal species at risk public registry, it occurs at its northern limit in central Ontario and south-central Manitoba. The federal government’s 2017 recovery strategy for the plant says the preponderance of populations and species is found in Ontario, and even there they are scarce: perhaps as many as 25 populations growing on the fragile alvar of Lake Huron’s Manitoulin Island and nearby Bruce Peninsula area as well as a singular grouping on tallgrass prairie lands on the nearby unceded territory of Walpole Island First Nation. In Manitoba, the plant was altogether unknown until its discovery in 2007 when a single grouping was found in the Interlake region. Since then, four more locations have been found. In that same general area, Manitoba is also home to two other false foxgloves: rough agalinis (rare and vulnerable, it has endangered status) and slender agalinis (uncommon but still numerous, according to the Nature Manitoba website). The total number of round-stemmed false foxglove plants was estimated to be roughly 70,000 in 2017, but because they are annuals, the number of individuals can fluctuate substantially from year to year.

It is a fine plant with just a few small purple-pink trumpeted flowers, their interiors white and sprinkled with purple spots. It seems delicate and impermanent, perched on branch tips off fine upright round stems, somewhere between 10 and 50 cm high. The numerous narrow leaves are opposed, yellowy-green and roughly textured, just a few centimetres long.

The plant’s genus name is derived from the Greek aga meaning remarkable and linum, Latin for flax, the flowers of which are similar. The plants prefer a mix of sun and shade in dry and open areas, in alvar, woodland and prairies. Blooming occurs from June to September, but experts say the best time to identify the plants (and to differentiate them from their near cousins) is later in the summer.

The plant’s scientific name is in honour of Augustin Gattinger, an interesting character who deserves a nod. A German immigrant (he had to leave his native land due to his subversive activities as a medical student, which included marking the birthday of the first president of the United States, George Washington), he settled in southern Tennessee and during his practice as a country doctor amassed an encyclopedic knowledge of the local flora. He ended up in Nashville when he found himself on the wrong side of the American Civil War; he served as a doctor for the Union Army. Eventually, in 1887, he published a small volume, on the flora of Nashville and environs. It was another 14 years before he published his magnum opus, considered a classic among today's cognoscenti of southern botany, Flora of Tennessee and Philosophy of Botany. He identified countless plants, including several close relatives of false foxgloves.

Until recently, 70 different Agalinis species throughout the Americas all were considered part of the Scrophulariaceae or figwort family. It was the much admired botanist at University of Guelph, Judith Canne-hilliker, who in the mid-1970s undertook a taxonomic and anatomical review resulting in a complete rethinking of its classification. As a result of her studies, the plant was moved to the Orobanchaceae family, where it clearly belongs. They are all hemiparasitic, meaning they are capable of creating their own chlorophyll but will also siphon more as well as other nutrients off the roots of neighbouring grasses and sedges.

This is particularly useful for a plant that prefers the inhospitably dry and difficult soil conditions of alvar landscape. Globally, alvars are rare, found on Swedish islands, eastern Baltic shorelines, scattered areas in Ireland and the U.K., and eastern North America. In addition to the Great Lakes basin, Canadian alvars are found in Manitoba, Newfoundland, Quebec and the Northwest Territories. Despite their sparse appearance, alvars represent some of the most species-rich communities in the world. In Ontario, grassland alvars provide desperately needed seasonal habitat for grassland birds, which are in worrisome decline everywhere, and more than 50 different species of plants.

Round-stemmed false foxglove is endangered in both Ontario and Manitoba largely because of human-caused loss of habitat, particularly land development, trampling (largely by ATVS and hikers), construction, pesticides and invasive species.