Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for Sail-bearing Foamflower - Tiarella nautila   Nesom
Members of Saxifragaceae:
Members of Tiarella with account distribution info or public map:
Google Images
Section 6 » Family Saxifragaceae
AuthorNesom
DistributionThis is a newly described species, in 2021. Currently known just from Cherokee County. As its range lies mainly in northern GA, this species is limited only to the far southwestern Mountains in NC.

"Extreme sw. NC (Cherokee County), extreme se. TN (Monroe & Polk counties) south to nc. GA (Jackson, DeKalb, Cobb, and Floyd counties)" (Weakley 2022).
AbundanceLikely not overly rare in Cherokee County, though obviously limited in range in NC. The website editors suggest a State Rank of S1S2 for now, and a Watch List status.
HabitatAs with other Tiarella species, it occurs in rich hardwood forests, cove forests, etc. Habitat distinctions among the now four species of Tiarella in the state are not clarified.
PhenologyBlooms in April and May, and fruits into June.
IdentificationSee Tiarella cordifolia for the general description. As with that newly refined species, these two in NC are non-stoloniferous, and plants occur in clumps and not in extensive patches. From T. cordifolia, which has "Leaves usually about as long as wide, usually with obtuse to rounded lobes, terminal lobe not extended; sepals 2.5-3 mm long", the "new" T. nautila has "Leaves usually longer than wide, usually with acute-acuminate lobes, terminal lobe prominently extended; sepals 1.5-2 mm long" (Weakley 2022). Thus, this new species has leaves looking somewhat like a Red Maple (Acer rubrum), with the noticeably long terminal lobe.
Taxonomic CommentsNesom described this species in 2021, with a more readable (for the public) account of this and several other newly described species of Tiarella, in 2022.

Other Common Name(s)Sail-leaf Foamflower. NatureServe and Weakley (2024) now both use Sail-bearing Foamflower as the common name.
State Rank[S1S2]
Global RankGNR
State Status[W7]
US Status
USACE-agcp
USACE-emp
County Map - click on a county to view source of record.
Select a source
AllHerbaria
Select an occurrence type
AllCollection_natural