Nolina brittoniana is a rare species of flowering plant in the asparagus family

Asparagaceae

Asparagaceae is the botanical name of a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots.In earlier classification systems, the species involved were often treated as belonging to the family Liliaceae...

 known by the common name Britton's beargrass. It is endemic to Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, where there are 72 known populations, only a few of which are large enough to be considered viable. It is federally listed as an endangered species

Endangered species

An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...

 of the United States.

This plant has no aboveground stem. It is a rosette of leaves attached at a bulblike base which arises from an underground caudex

Caudex

A caudex is a form of stem morphology appearing as a thickened, short, perennial stem that is either underground or near ground level . It may be swollen for the purpose of water storage, especially in xerophytes...

, a modified stem. The grasslike leaves are up to a meter long and rarely more than a centimeter wide. The edges are serrated with cartilaginous teeth. The inflorescence

Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

 is a large, erect panicle up to a meter tall. It has small bract

Bract

In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Bracts are often different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture...

s and reduced leaves. The many small flowers have tepal

Tepal

Tepals are elements of the perianth, or outer part of a flower, which include the petals or sepals. The term tepal is more often applied specifically when all segments of the perianth are of similar shape and color, or undifferentiated, which is called perigone...

s measuring only 1 or 2 millimeters long. While the flowers are bisexual, they are functionally unisexual, with either the male or female part reduced and not functional. Most plants have either functionally male or female flowers, but some have both. Blooming occurs in March through May. The flowers give rise to winged capsules roughly a centimeter long by a centimeter wide. The plant reproduces sexually

Sexual reproduction

Sexual reproduction is the creation of a new organism by combining the genetic material of two organisms. There are two main processes during sexual reproduction; they are: meiosis, involving the halving of the number of chromosomes; and fertilization, involving the fusion of two gametes and the...

 via seed and vegetatively

Vegetative reproduction

Vegetative reproduction is a form of asexual reproduction in plants. It is a process by which new individuals arise without production of seeds or spores...

 by cloning

Cloning

Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...

.

The plant is limited to seven counties in Central Florida

Central Florida

Central Florida is a regional designation for the area surrounding Orlando in east central Florida, United States. The area represents the third largest population concentration in Florida, after the South Florida and Tampa Bay regions, respectively....

, where it grows in a number of habitat types. It is known from various kinds of Florida scrub

Florida scrub

Florida scrub is an endangered temperate coniferous forest ecoregion of the state of Florida in the United States. It is found on coastal and inland sand ridges and is characterized by a xeromorphic plant community dominated by shrubs and dwarf oaks. Scrub soils, a type of entisol, are derived...

 habitat, hammocks

Hammock (ecology)

Hammocks are dense stands of hardwood trees that grow on natural rises of only a few inches higher than surrounding marshland that is otherwise too wet to support them. Hammocks are distinctive in that they are formed gradually over thousands of years rising in a wet area through the deposits of...

, and sandhills. The habitat types are different in many ways but they all have dry, well-drained, low-nutrient sandy soils and they are all maintained by wildfire

Wildfire

A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...

. The plant is present on Lake Wales Ridge

Lake Wales Ridge

The Lake Wales Ridge is a low ridge running for about 150 miles south to north in Central Florida. The greater part of the ridge is in Highlands County and Polk County, but it extends north into Osceola, Orange and Lake Counties. It is named for the city of Lake Wales, roughly at the mid point of...

, home to many rare Central Florida endemic plants. It grows alongside Polygala lewtonii

Polygala lewtonii

Polygala lewtonii is a rare species of flowering plant in the milkwort family known by the common name Lewton's polygala, or Lewton's milkwort. It is endemic to Florida in the United States, where it is limited to the central ridge of the peninsula. There are about 49 occurrences of the plant...

, Polygonella myriophylla

Polygonella myriophylla

Polygonella myriophylla is a rare species of flowering plant in the knotweed family known by the common names sandlace, woody wireweed, and Small's jointweed. It is endemic to Florida in the United States, where it is limited to the central ridges of the peninsula, including the Lake Wales Ridge....

, Polygonella basiramia

Polygonella basiramia

Polygonella basiramia is a rare species of flowering plant in the knotweed family known by the common names wireweed, hairy wireweed, purple wireweed, and Florida jointweed. It is endemic to Florida in the United States, where it is limited to the central ridges of the peninsula, including the Lake...

, Paronychia chartacea

Paronychia chartacea

Paronychia chartacea is a rare species of flowering plant in the pink family known by the common names papery Whitlow-wort and paper nailwort. It is endemic to Florida in the United States. There are two subspecies of the plant; ssp. chartacea occurs in Central Florida, especially the Lake Wales...

spp. chartacea, Persea humilis, Liatris ohlingerae

Liatris ohlingerae

Liatris ohlingerae is a rare species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names Florida blazing star, Florida gayfeather, scrub blazing star, and sandtorch. It is endemic to Florida in the United States, where it occurs only on the Lake Wales Ridge along with many other rare...

, Hypericum cumulicola

Hypericum cumulicola

Hypericum cumulicola is a rare species of flowering plant in the St. John's wort genus known by the common name highlands scrub St. John's wort, or highlands scrub hypericum. It is endemic to Florida, where it is threatened by habitat loss and degradation...

, Conradina brevifolia

Conradina brevifolia

Conradina brevifolia is a rare species of shrub in the mint family known by the common name short-leaved false rosemary. It is endemic to Central Florida, where it is known only from the Lake Wales Ridge. There are perhaps 36 occurrences of the plant remaining, and 10 of these are likely to be...

, Calamintha ashei, and Bonamia grandiflora

Bonamia grandiflora

Bonamia grandiflora is a rare species of flowering plant in the morning glory family known by the common names Florida lady's nightcap, Florida bonamia, and scrub morning glory. It is endemic to Central Florida, where there are about 100 known populations remaining, many of which are within the...

. The plant is relatively widespread when compared with other rare local plants, but most of the populations are small and some are made up of only female individuals.

The beargrass is a member of plant communities that are maintained by a natural fire regime

Fire regime

A fire regime is the pattern, frequency and intensity of the bushfires and wildfires that prevails in an area. It is an integral part of fire ecology, and renewal for certain types of ecosystems. If fires are too frequent, plants may be killed before they have matured, or before they have set...

. Periodic wildfire halts the encroachment of large and woody vegetation, preventing ecological succession

Ecological succession

Ecological succession, is the phenomenon or process by which a community progressively transforms itself until a stable community is formed. It is a fundamental concept in ecology, and refers to more or less predictable and orderly changes in the composition or structure of an ecological community...

 and keeping the canopy thin to allow sunlight to the herb layer below. These fire-maintained habitat types in Florida are largely degraded now because of a long-standing policy of fire suppression. They are overgrown, with thick canopies and a large amount of flammable organic buildup. Without fire, the beargrass does not grow well, its reproduction is inefficient, and its populations experience low recruitment

Recruitment (biology)

In biology, recruitment occurs when juvenile organisms survive to be added to a population. The term is generally used to refer to a stage whereby the organisms are settled and able to be detected by an observer....

. The beargrass flowers most profusely in the year following a fire. Many populations are located on privately owned land, and it is up to the landowner to decide whether or not to initiate controlled burn

Controlled burn

Controlled or prescribed burning, also known as hazard reduction burning or Swailing is a technique sometimes used in forest management, farming, prairie restoration or greenhouse gas abatement. Fire is a natural part of both forest and grassland ecology and controlled fire can be a tool for...

s.

Habitat is also being lost to development and to agricultural operations, particularly citrus

Citrus

Citrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the rue family, Rutaceae. Citrus is believed to have originated in the part of Southeast Asia bordered by Northeastern India, Myanmar and the Yunnan province of China...

 groves. Habitat fragmentation

Habitat fragmentation

Habitat fragmentation as the name implies, describes the emergence of discontinuities in an organism's preferred environment , causing population fragmentation...

 has occurred. However, the species likely always been sparse in widespread populations, even before human interference in the habitat, and conservation of remaining habitat fragments will probably be enough to maintain it. Prescribed burns should be part of this conservation plan.

While it is rare in the wild, the beargrass is cultivated in plant nurseries.