Is it Clitoria mariana or is it Clitoria fragrans (or something else)? The park rangers at Blue Spring State Park near Orange City insist that this is the rare Clitoria fragrans (also known as Pigeon Wings, Fragrant Pigeon Wings, or Butterfly Pea).
Either way it is a rare find as both species are in decline in Florida as development continues unabated particularly on the sandhills where this plant once thrived.
Pigeon Wings and Butterfly Peas (Centrosema spp.) have flowers that are similar but have very different growth forms. Butterfly peas are herbaceous vines while Pigeon Wings are upright herbs. Fragrant pigeonwings (C. fragrans) can be distinguished from their close cousin Atlantic pigeonwings (C. mariana) by their much wider leaves.
In this case I found several individuals that appeared to be herbaceous vines while several others appeared to be upright herbs. In all cases the leaves appeared rather wide and pea-like.
This rare species of flowering plant in the legume family is endemic to Central Florida where there are thought to be fewer than 70 individual occurrences (there is no accurate estimate of the global population remaining). The plant is listed on Florida and the federal government's endangered species list.
Copious rains during and after Hurricane Irma, in September of 2017, brought on a blooming event of these elusive Pigeon Wings.
This plant once grew on undisturbed areas of Florida scrub habitat, often in the transition zone between scrub and sandhill areas. There are very, very few such areas remaining. Habitat destruction and fragmentation is a threat to this plant and other Florida scrub natives.
Clitoria mariana is virtually identical to Clitoria fragrens but occurs over a much larger range of North America.
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