Threatened Texas Wildflower Species Needs Several Decades to Recover

The Texas wildflower will take several decades to recover, experts say, even with its new status as a threatened species.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday listed the bracted twistflower, a Texas wildflower imperiled by expanding urban sprawl, as a threatened species.

The tall, vibrant purple flower, which has seen a significant decline across much of its range in the I-35 corridor between San Antonio and Austin, will be protected in accordance with the Endangered Species Act. The plant's essential habitat spans nearly 1,600 acres in Bexar, Uvalde, Medina, and Travis Counties of Texas.

Protection will result in the creation of a recovery plan including its reintroduction and the prescription of conservation measures after the Center for Biological Diversity sued the federal agency in 2021. Additionally, it will make it unlawful to remove, cut, dig up, or harm the plant.

Threatened Texas Wildflower Can Recover

The once-prolific Hill Country wildflower flowers in the spring and needs a particular type of soil that can only be found close to the Edwards Plateau and Glen Rose area. Additionally, it requires subsurface water and a combination of sun and shade, which ashe juniper trees as well as live oaks provide. Texas bee species receive nectar and pollen from their lavender-colored flowers.

If its remaining habitats are managed properly, this species could recover within a few decades, according to Chris Best, the Fish and Wildlife Service state botanist in Texas.

According to conservationists, wildflower populations are becoming more and more isolated from one another, making it difficult for pollinators like bees to move from one location to another, which worsens the loss of genetic diversity and reduces the plant's capacity to withstand other threats.

Decline in Population

According to the Endangered Species Act as published by NOAA and several other government agencies and departments, a threatened species is any animal or plant that has a good chance of going extinct soon throughout most or all of its range. Due to development, ravenous white-tailed deer, and non-native grazing animals, the wildflower gradually lost its habitat.

It is the second plant from Texas that a federal organization has listed as endangered this year. It recently included the rare Texas plant prostrate milkweed, which is essential for monarch butterfly survival, on the endangered species list. Within eight miles of the Rio Grande, all of the 24 prostrate milkweed populations were recorded by experts, Chron reports.

Bracted Twistflower

Only the southernmost portion of the Edwards Plateau in central Texas is home to the annual herbaceous plant, bracted twistflower (Streptanthus bracteatus). Streptanthus currently has 35 described species. The absence of stems on the leaves carried on the flower stalk and the presence of a small modified leaf known as a bract at the base of each flower stem allow bracted twistflower to be distinguished from the majority of other species in this genus.

According to the Federal Register, populations of the bracted twistflower were recorded at 17 natural occurrences in five counties since 1989. There is also one experimental trial in Travis County.