Virginia’s most rare plant, the Peters Mountain Mallow, only lives on one mountainside in the world in the New River Valley along the West Virginia line. And the ongoing drought means protecting it from extinction is getting tougher.
On a sultry summer day, three scientists hiked up Peters Mountain in Giles County, climbing through sassafras and blackberry bushes (and their thorns). Near the top of the ridge, the trees begin to thin out and there’s more sunlight—exactly what Peters Mountain Mallow needs to thrive.
“So it’s got kind of maplely looking leaves, they’re a little bit fuzzy,” described Leighton Reid, an associate professor of ecological restoration at Virginia Tech, “It’s got kind of a fuzzy stem.”
Reid crouched in front of a small green plant, one of only a handful that exist on the planet. “This species was discovered by a couple of botanists from West Virginia University almost 100 years ago. And this is the only place that anyone’s ever found it,” Reid said.
Peters Mountain Mallow can grow to be several feet tall, with light pink flowers that look a bit like hibiscus. On this day, all the plants appear small, and only one has any sign of a flower, and it’s small and shriveled.
There’s still a lot scientists don’t know about what helps these plants thrive. They do know fire helps their seeds germinate. Fire also helps clear the forest of debris to allow more light to shine on the Mallows.
“If we could provide more sunlight for the species, if we could burn this habitat, there are probably seeds that are underneath the leaf litter that could cause this species to rebound again,” Reid said.
The Nature Conservancy in Virginia owns this property in Giles County, and they began prescribed burns here in the 1990s. The Nature Conservancy’s land manager, Sam Truslow, said the last burn at this site was in 2017.
“For the past few years we have had plans each spring to conduct another burn,” Truslow explained. “And this year specifically, the prolonged drought conditions have made that not possible.”
It’s amazing these plants survived this long, but they almost didn’t. In the 1980s, the Peters Mountain Mallow was placed on the federal list of endangered species, and the population dropped to just three plants. But after prescribed burns, the population usually rebounds quickly.
Ryan Klopf with the Virginia Natural Heritage Program was at the most recent burn nine years ago. “Peter’s Mountain Mallow is simply one of, if not the rarest, plant in the state,” Klopf said. “And so protecting and ultimately seeing that species restored through this collaborative effort with agencies, universities, NGO, is just, you know, mission central.”
And there is good news on Peter’s Mountain. In addition to the five plants they identified last year, Klopf discovered a small, healthy mallow on this year's hike.
Reid said it’s a good sign the plant is holding on, for now.
“Six individuals, which is one more than we found last year,” Reid said. “Whether that one was here last year and we missed it, or whether it’s a new one, is hard to say.”
They tag and record the new plant, named 006, and then enclose it with a small fence. After they’ve logged all the plants, the scientists tidy up their exclosures and nearby areas. Just as a gardener would, they thin some of the competing plants and pull invasives like garlic mustard to give Peters Mountain Mallow a fighting chance.
Reid and his students are hoping to begin a new phase of the restoration project to collect seeds and try to germinate them in Blacksburg. Eventually, scientists may even try to grow them in new locations to help give the plant more chances to survive.
“What could be more inspiring than studying a globally rare species that occurs only 30 minutes away from the Virginia Tech campus,” Reid said. “It’s just a great opportunity to be part of global biodiversity conservation in our own backyard.”
They’re still waiting to learn if they’ll be funded for this next part of their work. Either way, Reid hopes conditions improve for a prescribed burn soon, because without that Virginia’s most rare plant has little chance of making a comeback.
