''Senega smallii'', commonly known as tiny polygala and tiny milkwort, is a rare species of flowering plant in the milkwort family . It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

in the United States, where it is limited to the south-eastern coast of the peninsula. The plant is now only known from eight sites, with most individuals located on one site in

Miami-Dade County Miami-Dade County () is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most-populous coun ...

.USFWS
''Polygala smallii'' Five-year Review.
June 2010. The species is threatened by the loss of its habitat.''Polygala smallii''.

The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, United States. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in ...

. This is a federally listed

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

of the United States.

Description

The plant is a petite biennial herb growing 2 to 4 centimeters tall from the top of its

taproot A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproot ...

. The leaves are

spatula A spatula is a broad, flat, flexible blade used to mix, spread and lift material including foods, drugs, plaster and paints. In medical applications, "spatula" may also be used synonymously with tongue depressor. The word ''spatula'' derives ...

-shaped and form a rosette at the base of the stems. They are closely packed and measure up to about 3.5 centimeters in length. The top of each stem is occupied by a short

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

of yellow-green flowers. The inflorescence often does not exceed the length of the leaf rosette. The plants have an aboveground lifespan of about 180 days, after which they disappear until the next

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

sweeps the area.

Distribution

This plant grows in

Florida scrub Florida scrub is a forest ecoregion found throughout Florida in the United States. It is found on coastal and inland sand ridges and is characterized by an evergreen Xerophyte, xeromorphic plant community dominated by shrubs and dwarf oaks. Becau ...

and

pine rockland The South Florida rocklands ecoregion, in the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome, occurs in southern Florida and the Florida Keys in the United States, where they would naturally cover an area of . These forests form on lime ...

habitat in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, St. Lucie, and Martin Counties in Florida. It occurs on public property occupied by

Zoo Miami The Miami-Dade Zoological Park and Gardens, also known as Zoo Miami, is a zoological park and garden in Miami and is the largest zoo in Florida. Originally established in 1948 at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Zoo Miami relocated in 1980 as Mia ...

and adjacent

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

property. 10,000 plants have been counted at the latter site, the largest population of the plant. It has been noted at the

Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport is a general aviation airport located within the city limits of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Fort Lauderdale, in Broward County, Florida, Broward County, Florida, United States, north of downtown Fort Lauderdal ...

in a preserve established there for the

gopher tortoise The gopher tortoise (''Gopherus polyphemus'') is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is native to the southeastern United States. The gopher tortoise is seen as a keystone species because it digs burrows that provide she ...

. The species has a cyclic

life cycle Life cycle, life-cycle, or lifecycle may refer to: Science and academia *Biological life cycle, the sequence of life stages that an organism undergoes from conception to reproduction *Life-cycle hypothesis, in economics *Erikson's stages of psy ...

and may exist at sites where it has not been seen recently.

Habitat

The habitat occupied by this plant is maintained by a natural

fire regime A fire regime is the pattern, frequency, and intensity of the bushfires and wildfires that prevail in an area over long periods of time. It is an integral part of fire ecology, and renewal for certain types of ecosystems. A fire regime describes th ...

. Fire helps the plant by removing competing plants. It requires open spaces with sunlight and tolerates disturbance, and it resprouts readily after wildfire has affected the habitat. At times, it has been positively affected by the disturbance created during

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its ...

s. The long-term practice of

fire suppression Fire suppression may refer to: * Firefighting * Fire suppression systems * Wildfire suppression Wildfire suppression is a range of firefighting tactics used to suppress wildfires. Firefighting efforts depend on many factors such as the availabl ...

in the region has allowed the plant's habitat to become overgrown with large and woody vegetation.

Habitat conservation Habitat conservation is a management practice that seeks to conserve, protect and restore habitats and prevent species extinction, fragmentation or reduction in range. It is a priority of many groups that cannot be easily characterized in ter ...

must involve periodic

prescribed burn A controlled burn or prescribed burn (Rx burn) is the practice of intentionally setting a fire to change the assemblage of vegetation and decaying material in a landscape. The purpose could be for forest management, ecological restoration, ...

s or another method of opening the overgrown canopy. Fire is also beneficial because it may trigger

germination Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, ...

of the seeds: experiments showed 50% more germination and faster germination in seeds that had been exposed to smoke. Seeds persist in a

soil seed bank The soil seed bank is the natural storage of seeds, often dormant, within the soil of most ecosystems. The study of soil seed banks started in 1859 when Charles Darwin observed the emergence of seedlings using soil samples from the bottom of a lak ...

until they are prompted to germinate. Another main threat to the species is the outright destruction of its habitat for the construction of residential and commercial real estate.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7226328 smallii Endemic flora of Florida