Sabatia arkansana
Sabatia arkansana, commonly known as Pelton's rose gentian, is an herbaceous annual in the gentian family. It was discovered in 2001 in several glades of the Ouachita Mountains in Saline County, Arkansas by John Pelton, a retired mechanic turned amateur photographer and naturalist. It is known only from two locations in this county and is considered critically imperiled as a result of the presence of nearby housing developments and due to the absence of a fire regime. In summer it shows attractive rose-purple flowers.
Description
It is an annual plant growing to about 12 cm tall. The leaves are produced in opposite pairs, lanceolate, 5–15 mm long and 2–3 mm broad. The flowers are about 3.5 cm diameter, with a five-lobed corolla, purplish-pink with a pale yellow center, and five yellow stamens. The fruit is a capsule about 1 cm long.Similar species
It is similar to and often occurs together with the related Sabatia campestris. Pelton's rose gentian differs from it in its smaller size, darker pink flowers with rounded corolla lobes and in growing on moister sites.Taxonomy
John Pelton, an amateur nature photographer and naturalist, discovered Sabatia arkansana in 2001 northwest of the town of Owensville. Initially unaware of his discovery, he showed the plant to Theo Witsell, a botany student who was involved with the Flora of Arkansas Project, in hopes of properly identifying it. He collected specimens of it and Sabatia campestris, which was also found growing at the same site. All the consulted literature seemed to suggest that both were S. campestris, but the differences between the two were clear.While surveying populations of the rare pipewort Eriocaulon koernickianum in similar habitats near the town of Bauxite, John Pringle, a botanist from the Royal Botanical Gardens in Ontario, and Witsell discovered another population of Pelton's rose gentian. After Witsell had compared his specimens with a range of specimens of S. campestris at the Missouri Botanical Gardens and had confirmed that they were not the same, the plants were sent to Pringle who described and named the new species. The authors offered to name the species after Pelton, but he declined. Instead they chose the specific name arkansana due to the plant's endemism in Arkansas. Despite Pelton's refusal to have the specific epithet bear his surname, the authors suggested the common name "Pelton's rose-gentian" in his honour.