''Agalinis'' (false foxglove) is a genus of about 70 species in North, Central, and South America that until recently was aligned with members of the family

Scrophulariaceae The Scrophulariaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the figwort family. The plants are annual and perennial herbs, as well as shrubs. Flowers have bilateral ( zygomorphic) or rarely radial ( actinomorphic) symmetry. The S ...

. As a result of numerous molecular phylogenetic studies based on various

chloroplast A chloroplast () is a type of membrane-bound organelle known as a plastid that conducts photosynthesis mostly in plant and algal cells. The photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll captures the energy from sunlight, converts it, and stores it ...

DNA (

cpDNA Chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) is the DNA located in chloroplasts, which are photosynthetic organelles located within the cells of some eukaryotic organisms. Chloroplasts, like other types of plastid, contain a genome separate from that in the cell nuc ...

) loci, it was shown to be more closely related to members of the

Orobanchaceae Orobanchaceae, the broomrapes, is a family of mostly parasitic plants of the order Lamiales, with about 90 genera and more than 2000 species. Many of these genera (e.g., '' Pedicularis'', '' Rhinanthus'', '' Striga'') were formerly included in ...

. ''Agalinis'' species are

hemiparasitic A parasitic plant is a plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. They make up about 1% of angiosperms and are found in almost every biome. All parasitic plants develop a specialized organ called ...

, which is a character that in part describes the

. The first detailed study of this genus began with Francis W. Pennell around 1908, and his earliest major publication of the North American members of this genus appeared in 1913. Dr. Judith Canne-Hilliker began to revise Pennell's treatment in 1977. Her taxonomic, anatomical, and developmental studies have greatly enhanced our understanding of this sometimes perplexing group. In particular, her studies of the seed surfaces using electron microscopy has shown that the seeds are diagnostic for delimiting species and has resulted in a realignment of Pennell's classification of the group. In the 1990s Gregg Dieringer investigated the reproductive ecology of several ''Agalinis spp.'', to include the self-incompatible '' Agalinis strictifolia'' and the autogamous bee-visited '' Agalinis skinneriana''. Much remains to be studied in this regard, however. One species of ''Agalinis'', ''

Agalinis acuta ''Agalinis acuta'' is an annual hemiparasitic plant native to Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Long Island, New York. Common names include sandplain gerardia and sandplain false foxglove. It is one of about 70 species tha ...

'', is federally listed. This is mainly due to continued habitat loss within its historically known range. There are a number of species in North America that are ranked at the state and federal level. However, many of the species considered rare are ranked at the state level and represent species on the periphery of their range. There are a number of rare (and endemic) species that are not noted at the state or federal level, and the biogeography of this group in North America has yet to be studied in detail, and is poorly understood.

Species

Souza, VC, SI Elias, & AM Giulietti. 2001. Notes in ''Agalinis'' (Scrophulariaceae) from Brazil. Novon 11:484-488.
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References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4691145 Orobanchaceae genera Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque