Houstonia montana (Roan Mountain Bluets) added to Virginia Flora

On September 6, 2013, during a routine re-visit to a vegetation plot sampled many years ago, Virginia Natural Heritage Program ecologists Karen Patterson and Gary Fleming discovered a population of Houstonia montana (Roan Mountain Bluets) on a cliff in Grayson Highlands State Park.  This species is a Southern Blue Ridge endemic of high-elevation outcrops and balds, occurring most notably on Roan Mountain, Grandfather Mountain, Bluff Mountain, and Threetop Mountain in northwestern North Carolina and northeastern Tennessee.  The Virginia population represents a new northern range limit for the species.

Houstonia montana is federally listed as endangered.  Specimens from the Virginia population examined by Alan S. Weakley of the University of North Carolina Herbarium (NCU) matched exactly material at NCU from various sites, including the type locality.  Please see the individual map page for this species for more information.