| Author | (Mill.) J.F.B. Pastore & J.R. Abbott | |
| Distribution | Throughout the Coastal Plain, though very rare in some far eastern counties. Montgomery County specimens from the adjacent Piedmont need to have ID checked vs. S. curtissii.
This is mainly a Coastal Plain species, ranging from Long Island, NY, and south to northern FL and west to eastern TX. It also ranges unland to parts of TN and KY. | |
| Abundance | Frequent to common over nearly all of the Coastal Plain, but rare in the far eastern counties, and uncommon in the western Sandhills region. | |
| Habitat | This is a species of wetlands of a great variety of habitats, many in disturbed ground and is by no means limited to high-quality habitats such as pine savannas and flatwoods. It also grows in ditches, damp clearings, and in other damp and often sandy ground -- typically in acidic soils and near pinelands. | |
| Phenology | Blooms from June to October, and fruits soon after flowering. | |
| Identification | This is the Coastal Plain "counterpart" to S. curtissii, a species of the Piedmont and mountains. Each grows with a slender stem to about 8-9 inches tall, with a few branches in the upper portions. The alternate leaves are linear or the lower ones narrowly spatulate, about 3/4-inch long. The flower heads at the ends of the branches are fairly small and rounded to conical, about 3/4-inch long at most, with rose to pink flowers. In this species, when a flower is spent (from the bottom up to the top), each bract quickly drops, so that the stem or peduncle below the remaining flower head is smooth; in S. curtissii, the bracts remain in place, such that below the remaining flowers the stem or peduncle is scaly-looking. As with the other species, you probably need to use the range and habitat to assist you to separate these -- each of which is reasonably common in its part of the state. S. nuttallii does overlap its range somewhat, but that uncommon species has more spire-like flower clusters, several times taller than wide. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | All of the former Polygala species in NC have now been moved to the genus Senega in 2023. | |
| Other Common Name(s) | None | |
| State Rank | S4 [S5] | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
