More Than a ‘Pygmy’ Discovery

From Plant Press Vol. 17 no. 1, January 2014.

By Cavan Allen & Wesley Knapp

Field work over the past two years has resulted in the rediscovery of a species believed historic and extirpated from Maryland. Before its rediscovery, water pygmyweed (Crassula aquatica (L.) Schoenl.) was last seen in Maryland in 1950, some 62 years ago. This plant is aptly named, as the plants stand no more than one inch tall. This diminutive plant occurs in the inner-tidal zone in the eastern United States from Canada south to Maryland, with disjunct populations in Mississippi and Alabama.

In 2012, Allen rediscovered several plants growing along a tidal stream in Charles County, Maryland. He contacted Knapp, who set up a more thorough survey with Kathy McCarthy and Kerry Wixted, two additional staff of the Maryland Wildlife and Heritage Service. The resulting search yielded the discovery of thousands of individuals growing on the exposed rocky substrates that are only shallowly flooded at high tide. Crassula aquatica apparently preferred the rocky substrate, as very few individuals were found on mud or muck substrates in the immediate vicinity.

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