| Author | (Britton) Barnhart | |
| Distribution | Occurs only in the southeastern corner of the state, in New Hanover and Brunswick counties. The four locations are all fairly recent discoveries (first in 1997), well after RAB (1968) was published.
The NC records are strongly disjunct north of the main range, as there appear to be no records for SC or GA, except for a couple records from adjacent Horry County in northeastern SC. It ranges otherwise only throughout the FL peninsula.
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| Abundance | Very rare to rare, but locally can be numerous where found -- two of the four sites are considered to be in excellent condition, according to the NCNHP database. This is a State Endangered species. | |
| Habitat | This species grows in sandy soil in its range, almost always in association with pinewoods such as those dominated by Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris). The sites in NC are mostly in Coastal Fringe Sandhill natural community -- sandy woodlands dominated by Longleaf Pine and various scrub oaks such as Q. geminata, Q. virginiana, and/or Q. laevis. | |
| Phenology | Blooms in May and June, and fruits from July to September. | |
| Identification | This is an erect species with numerous basal branches, with each stem/branch reaching 1 foot tall or slightly taller. The stems and leaves are quite hairy and are gray-green in color as opposed to green in most others in the genus. It has numerous alternate stem leaves, nearly sessile; each is elliptical, about 1-inch long and 1/5-inch wide, with entire margins. The flowers are in terminal thyrses (elongated with cymules), with each flower being yellow, 5-petalled, and about 3/4-inch across. It also is the only NC species in the genus with densely pubescent ovary and capsules. The species often grows in sizable patches in sandy places. Considering that the species is known from four sites, two of which are sizable in populations, it seems odd that it was not until 1997 that it was first found in NC. Whether it was simply passed over as another species -- not likely by an experienced botanist -- is not known, but it would be unlikely to simply have appeared in NC just in the past few decades. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | None
All NC species of Crocanthemum were formerly placed in the genus Helianthemum. | |
| Other Common Name(s) | Florida Scrub Sunrose | |
| State Rank | S1 | |
| Global Rank | G3G4 | |
| State Status | E | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
