| Author | D.B. Poindexter & J.B. Nelson | |
| Distribution | Limited to the northwestern corner of the state, i.e., the northern Mountains - Alleghany, Ashe, Watauga, and Avery counties.
This is a newly described species (2011), currently restricted to just southwestern VA and adjacent northwestern NC. NatureServe also lists TN, along with NC and VA, in the species' range. | |
| Abundance | Very rare, known from just a few sites in the state. This is a State Endangered species, with the State Rank of S1. NatureServe gives a Global Rank of G1G2. | |
| Habitat | This species is limited to moist ground over mafic or ultramafic rock. Though habitats in VA are mainly in natural ones, such as fens, those in NC have mostly been in damp ground along road margins or wet fields/meadows -- though presumably on high pH soil. The Alleghany County collection does seem to be from a natural wetland/fen, and the Avery County one is from a "rocky-silt island in the North Toe River". |
| Phenology | Blooms in July and August; presumably fruits shortly after flowering. | |
| Identification | From Poindexter and Nelson (2011): "Stachys appalachiana is distinctive in its combined possession of a wetland preference, leaf blades elliptic, crenate to serrate, flowers 8-10 per verticil, calyx lobes lanceolate flaring (with long flexuous glandular and stiff eglandular hairs), adaxial [upperside] leaf surfaces with very abundant, soft erect hairs, abaxial [underside] leaf surfaces sparingly stipitate glandular, stem angles with prominent and abundant stiff and retrorse hairs (including long stipitate glandular hairs), and stem faces glabrate with relatively few glandular or eglandular trichomes". In general, this is a large and "horsey" species, robust and with quite hairy leaves and upper stems, and pink flowers. To best understand the species, there are four photos on the Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora website. These photos show very wrinkled and veiny leaves, quite serrated on the margins, and a very hairy (with stiff white hairs) upper stem and branches. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | This is a recently described species, endemic to VA and NC (and also perhaps TN).
Stachys is a large and complex genus that is still actively being worked on, and our understanding of the species is slowly being clarified. For interested readers, we recommend journal papers by Nelson (1981, 2008) and by Fleming et al. (2011). | |
| Other Common Name(s) | None | |
| State Rank | S1 | |
| Global Rank | G1G2 | |
| State Status | E | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | OBL link |
