| Author | Weakley | |
| Distribution | Northern lower Piedmont only. So far as is known, confined to Granville County, NC, and Halifax County, VA -- just one large population in each state.
A tiny range -- endemic to the Piedmont of northern NC and southern VA. | |
| Abundance | Extremely rare, known only from one current population, and one historical collection (1961) a few miles away. Population varies with canopy opening and fire, but several thousand plants are often present in a given year. In May 2021, it was listed as a State Endangered species; ought to be Federally listed at some point. | |
| Habitat | Dry to moist soil underlain by mafic rock (diabase), within a matrix of deciduous-pine-cedar woodland -- i.e., a glade-like setting, including in an adjacent powerline clearing. The soil type is Iredell, prone to shrink-swell depending on moisture. |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting late May-September. Flowering is mainly from late May to mid-June. | |
| Identification | Stems grow 2-3 feet tall and are unbranched. Lower leaves are long-stalked, lance-shaped and prominently 3-veined, gradually reduced upwards and sessile, but not extending into the upper quarter of the stem. Heads are solitary, pale to deep pink to whitish. Spoon-shaped Barbara's-buttons (M. obovata) is a shorter plant, with white flowers and more obovate or oblanceolate leaves; it blooms about two weeks earlier in the same county. A stand in full bloom is a memorable sight, considering that it is the only one available in the state! | |
| Taxonomic Comments | Oak Barrens Barbara's-buttons was newly described to science in 2012 (see Weakley & Poindexter) and named for Harry LeGrand, who discovered the large NC population in the 1980s and realized it was something different from M. grandiflora and M. obovata; he was a longtime Zoologist for the NC Natural Heritage Program, is an all-round naturalist, and is co-editor of this website.
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| Other Common Name(s) | Tall Barbara's-buttons, LeGrand's Barbara's-buttons | |
| State Rank | S1 | |
| Global Rank | G1 | |
| State Status | E | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
